Stranger things
by aidan bard
Summary: Vincent's monsters are getting out of hand but he is not the only person with a problem. Cloud has just enough dirt on him for the Turks to blackmail him and Rufus ShinRa wants the group to track down a couple of remnants. SLASH VxC
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Vincent let the cold water wash over him as he lay submerged in the stream, holding his breath, letting the flow of water carry away the taint, both real and imaginary, away from his body. However there was no escape from the reality that was hunting him for it would take more than cold water to wash it away for it was a memory, pressing down on him with every breath he drew. It was the knowledge, the shame of what he had done.

Being honest to himself, Vincent acknowledged that the need had been building up inside him for some time. It was not just him, most of their merry band of adventurers had felt the urge to pair up. Well, nearly everyone in their little group was settling down, leading semi-normal lives while Vincent was left seemingly by himself. It was not as if it was deliberate but he did not want to intrude on them but the news that Cid had gotten married had taken him by surprise.

Not that he was expecting something from Cid.

Or so he had told himself as he had dropped in on Cid unexpectedly. An experience he swore he would never repeat since it just did not make him feel comfortable to visit in their quaint living room drinking tea from a mug that threatened to crack from the pressure of his claw. It had been a total disaster, something he swore never to repeat.

In a way Vincent could understand the need to settle down and find a steady partner. Not that he thought he ever would ever find someone but that did not mean he was not interested in, well, sex. It had been suppressed while he had been traipsing around the planet looking for enemies with Cloud and the bunch but afterwards …

It was not as if he was going to find a woman or man to have sex with and it was easy to overlook such trivial bodily needs when he as by himself living in a small shack by the marshes. But apparently, his alternate forms did not have the same restraints he had. Nor any regard for the species he... it rutted with.

The incident, as he referred to it, had occurred three week ago while Vincent had been out hunting. Sometimes when the urge to find someone who was not his right hand made him feel restless, he would deliberately walk around in the grass waiting for something to attack him so he could fight back. Let the coiled up need translate into the spring action of his gun, the crunch of bones, the feel of warm blood and intestines, a red haze that did not require him to think too deeply.

It had been like a compulsion, just underneath the skin, waiting for him to scratch, to tear away the façade of humanity he clung to and call forth the beast within. It was so similar to a limit break waiting to be released, pulsing every time he closed him eyes, only a hundred times worse, he had thought releasing the beast within him would help.

When the limit break had build up, he had let go, transforming into the mindless purple beast he had come to associate with monotonous violence. It did not require much thinking, just claws and teeth to fight to the end. Only this time, he seemed to have transferred his needs into the monster that he had become and the Galian Beast did not have the restraints his human form did.

Mercifully, Vincent did not have much control over his 'other' forms and he did not remember his actions clearly. However, he knew what he had done though not how or why. Perhaps he did know why, it was obvious. It was a part of him he had refused to accept in his human guise, he refused to accept in his mind until he had gone berserk in his lowliest alternate form.

Vincent could recall a blur of fur; of mounting and being mounted on by monsters and finally of blood and gore. When he had reverted back he had been covered in monster-bits and bodily fluids that were definitely not blood.

Vincent shuddered at the memory, scrubbing his hands over his torso as the cold water streamed over his body, willing his mind to be cleansed as his body was. He could not remember the last time he had washed so many times. Finally, realising that there was not way to put off the inevitable, Vincent stepped out of the stream and on to dry land, walking towards his clothes slowly.

As he bend down to pick up his pants, a wave of dizziness hit him, momentarily forcing him to put his weakened hand down for balance. Without the protection of the golden gauntlet, his gun hand was weaker than his normal hand and it was with difficulty that he stopped himself from landing face first on his pile of clothes. It seemed as if he could hear the echoes of Hojo's laughter as he forced down the nausea, taking gulps of fresh air to restore his equilibrium. Finally, he straightened up, drying himself briskly with his cape before pulling on his clothes one by one. Almost reluctantly, he donned the gauntlet; a necessity he hated for his arm would never be strong enough to withstand the recoil of the gun. As he stood there, though there was no dizziness, he felt the … world shake.

Vincent frowned as he assessed the new feeling before he realised it was his cell phone, set to vibrate, shaking in his pants pocket. Though he had owned the phone for some time, he was still getting used to holding conversations with people far away and mostly of his friends did not call him, knowing his aversion to cell phones. He almost ignored it, fearing it was Tifa calling him to remind him of her oncoming wedding with Barrett then answered it since he did not want her sending search parties after him.

He looked at the caller number and frowned. It was Cloud.

Wondering what could have forced the recluse to call him up at such a time, fearing it was another emergency which dealt with world dominating psychopaths, he pressed a golden claw on the answer button, then he held it to his ear.

There was a long pause and finally, "Vincent." The voice was Cloud's but the tone did not indicate an emergency. In fact, it was one of great reluctance as if the person on the other side was being forced to make the call at gunpoint.

"What is it?" Vincent asked, weary but not alarmed.

"I don't want to bother you or anything … but can you come and bail me out," Cloud said unenthusiastically, the last part of the sentence so low that Vincent was forced to press the phone to his ear. "I've gotten myself arrested and someone has to come and get me out of this."

"Bail you?' he said stupidly. "What happened, where?"

"I'll tell you when you get here," Cloud said reluctantly. "Just… can you come… and bring some healing potion or some Cure mateira."

"Are you hurt?" Vincent demanded sharply.

"No," Cloud answered, voice firm. "It's for someone else."

Glad of the distraction and mystified by the situation, Vincent nodded before releasing Cloud could not see him. "Where are you?" he asked finally.


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2

Vincent reached his destination in the early hours of the morning, with a couple of stops to dispatch a few wandering beasts. He pointedly tried not to think of the Galien Beast's mating spree as he dispatched the monsters; it was not as if he was supposed to feel any kinship with any of the ones he'd killed. However, it was with some relief that he reached his destination, glad to give Death Penalty a rest and his overworked mind something else to think about.

It was an old mining town, one that was slowly regaining its' feet now that Mako energy was no longer running the planet. It was still something Yuffie would have referred to as a 'one-chocobo town' and Vincent mentally agreed with her though he would never have admitted that. The only way it was distinguishable from all the other towns that had sprung up was Fenrir sitting proudly outside a dilapidated shack with 'Bar' painted on the side.

There were people on the streets though the sun was yet to come up; miners going to work and the night shifters coming back from the mines by the look of it. The moment Vincent walked into town he was the centre of attention as he knew he would be. His clothes, his long hair as well as his red eyes, seemingly drew the attention of everyone and as he walked towards the building where Cloud was being held, Vincent surmised that this was the most excitement the town had ever had.

Vincent did not bother to knock as he walked into the door of the Community hall where a group of miners were seated around a table, on which, he realised with a sudden cold feeling, lay Cloud's sword. He wondered how many men it had taken to lift the damn thing. From experience, Vincent knew the sword was extremely heavy and no one was able to swing it with the same ease its' owner did.

His first instinct was to grab the sword; it was as much a part of Cloud as his yellow spiky hair was and Vincent did not like the implication that Cloud had been separated from his main weapon. However, two things stopped him from doing jumping into action. One, Vincent did not want to stir up trouble before it started, and two, he did not think he could carry the thing, no matter what Cloud claming that the sword was really light and could be wielded by anyone with a firm grip.

"I'm here for the owner of the sword," Vincent growled at the man seated at the head of the table. The miner was tall and heavily built, reminding Vincent of Barrett but expression on his face did not match Tifa's fiancé. This man had a calculating look on his face, like someone who had survived by pushing down people and stepping on their backs.

Vincent smirked when everyone around the table flinched when he spoke, taking a small satisfaction in knowing he was able to cower them all by simply opening his mouth. Well, he was channelling Chaos but they did not need to know that. He smiled inwardly as the idiot in charge look at Vincent as if unsure of what to say and glanced down at Death Penalty before wisely, keeping his comments to himself. "Where is he?" Vincent pressed when there was no answer forthcoming.

Vincent was not worried … much. He would have smelled blood in the air if anyone had died; though his nose was not as sensitive as Nanaki's he could still smell death clearly enough. The town was intact and most importantly Cloud had called him on his cellphone so it could not be anything serious. But to part Cloud from his sword meant all was not right and that worried Vincent.

"He's in the lock-up," one of the men finally admitted.

"Then get him out," Vincent said in exasperations since the conversation was as inspiring as the rest of the town.

"Not without bail," the large man said reluctantly and then, when Vincent did not threaten to suck his blood, continued, gaining momentum as he spoke. "He beat up that nice girl, he did, broke her arm and all."

Vincent's' first though was to call the man a liar, shoot the rest, grab Cloud and get out of town. The second was that for Cloud to attack someone, there had to be a damn good excuse. The third, rather belatedly was that Cloud had let a bunch of miners take away his sword and lock him up so perhaps the kid had finally…

"I want to see him," Vincent said, keeping his face blank but letting his frustration bleed into his voice. "Now." Chaos spoke loud and clear in that one word.

Cloud was in the back room; a hastily erected prison with rusted iron bars which Vincent knew the kid was capable of bending with his bare hands. The lock up had one fold up bed, a bucket and filthy bowl on the floor. Cloud stood, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed across his chest, his face flushed red, but his eyes meeting Vincent's directly, challenging the ex-Turk to say something. What startled Vincent was not the fact Cloud had chosen to stay locked up, but rather at what he was wearing. Or more clearly, what he was not wearing.

"Where are you're pants?" Vincent asked finally.

"There wasn't enough time to put them on," Cloud growled, his eyes narrowed, daring Vincent to say something in appropriate. "And in case you haven't noticed, my pants are not the only thing missing."

"Why would you take your clothes off…" Vincent started, surprised. The blond slept with his clothes on and he did not think Cloud came all this way on his bike to take a shower so… "Oh," he said, as realization dawned. In a way Vincent could understand why Cloud had not wanted anyone else involved. If it had been anyone else Vincent might have been quicker catching up but really, this was Cloud and for some reason Cloud and sex did not mesh.

"Just heal Jes and we can be on our way." He pulled up his shirt which was slipping down his shoulder since he had not buttoned it properly then stopped when Vincent's eyes automatically swooped lower. "My face is up here," he snapped. Vincent decided he had been hanging around Yuffie far too much since the first thing he wanted to say was, 'but your butt is down there,' even though he couldn't see much. It was a long shirt, probably belonging to someone a taller and wider than Cloud. The blond did have nice legs though, well muscled and slender, and suddenly Vincent was curious as to what this Jes looked like and how exactly Cloud has hurt her. Or why? Cloud was not the violent type.

"Care to tell me what happened?" Vincent asked instead as he looked around. He had been escorted into the holding cell by the largest miner he had spoken to and was probably eavesdropping on the other side.

"Did you bring the heal materia?" Cloud asked blushing all the way down to his chest. Vincent realised he had rarely seen the leader of their little group so uncomfortable. However he did not look guilty of his actions, more like uncomfortable of the situation he found himself in. But Sephiroth had run around, trying to take over the planet convinced he was correct – or God.

"As soon as I'm done, we're going to talk," Vincent said pulling out the healing potions he had brought and showing it to Cloud. He also had a heal material, levelled up but he was not going to show that unless it was really necessary.

"Just heal Jes," Cloud said impatiently. "I'll wait, it's not like I'm going anywhere dressed like this. I was stupid enough to get into this mess in the first place but really, just help her."

"Fine," said Vincent, realising that the conversation would go much smoother if he were to just heal this woman. He walked to the adjoining room where the large man was hovering, close enough to hear but far enough to dodge should Vincent run out with his gun blazing.

"She's resting," the man snapped before Vincent could ask and Vincent did not bother to speak. Instead he stood, keeping his eyes locked with the man's until he crumbled. "But I guess … you can go and see her." He shuffled his feet. Being stared at by Vincent usually had that effect on nearly everyone. "Doesn't mean the punk gets to go free without paying for the damage he did. People can't just walk in and hurt one of the girls here and think it's all right. He'll pay for this…"

"Where is she?" Vincent asked very slowly, almost spelling the words out, in his frustration. Things were too skewered for him to figure out what was happening but he needed to do this now. Perhaps if he followed up on things in a sequence of steps maybe everything would fall into place automatically. "And how much do I have to pay to get him –" Vincent titled his head back towards Cloud's holding cell so the man would not miss out on whom Vincent was referring to "… out of here?"

* * *

Vincent discovered a few things in a short amount of time.

One, Jes was a hooker. Or what passed for a hooker in a small mining town who lived on the top floor of the building named 'Bar' in front of which Cloud's bike was parked.

Two, she had her left arm wrenched out of her socket rather violently, almost pulling it off completely. The limited medical capabilities of these people meant that she would have eventually lost her arm or been crippled for life if had not been for the healing potion.

Three, someone had stolen one of Cloud's boots, shades, leather coat and armour. He was able to retrieve Cloud's pants, and a single boot, which he left behind since he could not see Cloud hopping around on one foot, and a nice pair of pink socks with Tifa embroidered on the edge.

Vincent also thought Cloud was worth a lot more than he paid for but he was not going to tell anyone that. And that was beside the point he decided as he gave Cloud his pants, the sooner they got out of this miserable town the better.

* * *

Cloud dressed mechanically while Vincent stood guard at the door. He did not think anyone would be foolish enough to come and watch but he did not want to push his luck.

"So do I need to tell you want happened or can you guess?" Cloud asked as he tried to pull on his trousers hopping from one foot to the other, trying to insert disinterest and some aura of casualness into his voice but failing as his cheeks blazed red. Vincent did not think Cloud was clumsy, just extremely nervous and embarrassed by the …situation.

Vincent wondered what the correct thing to do in such a situation was. It was not as if it came with a hand book or anything but Cloud had called him and not anyone else so there had to be a reason. There were several way of handling the whole "incident" but really, none of them seemed quite right.

"It was an accident," Cloud said when Vincent did not speak. He put on his socks and looked around for his boots then gave up. "I didn't mean to, I just pulled her up, I didn't realise her hand was going to come off." He shuddered as he leaned against the wall, crossing his arms across his chest Vincent did not think Cloud was feeling cold; despite being a hardened soldier, Cloud did not enjoy hurting civilians and this had come as a shock to him. "I mean, I do the same thing to Tifa and her hand doesn't come off." Cloud paused and considered what he had said. "Well, not in the same situation and I guess I wasn't thinking straight just then." This confession was accompanied by a full scale facial blush which made him look even younger that he already was. Tifa, Vincent did not bother pointing out, was a hardened warrior in the body of a lithe female and Jes was obviously not. Additionally, Vincent did not think Cloud touched Tifa a whole lot, Cloud was not the most tactile person around and the only thing he handled a lot was his sword. A sword which was almost four times as heavy as Cloud and his body was probably used to compensating for the weight. If anything Cloud had gotten stronger with time and had, in a moment of passion lost control.

"But I really didn't think I exerted so much force. It was a single rotation of my wrist …." As Cloud got technical, mostly to cover up the fact he was coming down from the shock Vincent wisely kept his mouth shut. "They all rushed in when she started screaming and I didn't know what to do. It was either to jump out the window naked or pick up my sword and do a Sephiroth and kill everyone in the town. Or go with them and deal with the consequences." He shrugged self-consciously. "They let me keep my phone." Pause. "And gave me a spare shirt to wear." Silence.

Vincent looked up from examining the stone work to see that the blond was watching him closely waiting for a reaction. "You came all the way to some unmarked town in the middle of no where to find a …prostitute," Vincent said since it was obvious Cloud expected him to make some comment.

It was, he thought reflectively, not the correct comment since Cloud's fists' clenched noticeably, and his shoulders hunched. He straightened up and strode past Vincent towards the exit, back stiff. "Let's just leave," he said briskly, his voice strained.

As Cloud brushed past him Vincent reached out and caught him by the arm, again surprised by the power such slender arms could wield. "I did not mean to offend you," he said smoothly. "I meant, you are a little out of the way for a … tryst."

"I make deliveries here," Cloud said, not pulling his arm free, though he could have. "I bring mining supplies and things they need." He did not look up at Vincent, keeping his face averted as he spoke. "But today was the first day, I …" He paused and gave Vincent a sideway look. "Let's just get out of here. Do you know where my shades are?"

"Shouldn't you worry more about your boots," Vincent asked since the real question he wanted to ask was whether it was Cloud's first time with a woman or just with Jes.

"I can ride my bike without my boots, I need my shades to keep my eyes from tearing," Cloud said as he picked up the sword and look at it. "I don't suppose you found my shoulder harness, did you?"

"Sorry," Vincent replied. "Maybe I could go and look for it."

"It's probably with the same person who took my underwear," Cloud muttered under his breath. "Let's just get out of here," he said almost pleadingly. "We don't have to go far, you live close by don't you."

"Relatively closer to here than anyone else does," Vincent replied knowing the only way Cloud could have gotten that information was by talking to Cid, who dropped in on Vincent regularly. He did not know what to do but really, he knew he had to talk to Cloud before the kid decided to repress the whole incident and shove it aside. Repressing urges didn't do anyone any good as Vincent knew from experience and anyway, he did not think the blond should be left alone. "I'll tell you where to go when we leave the town," he said instead.

Part 3: Soon!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

A/N: I realise I should put up a disclaimer saying I do not own Final Fantasy. As if I do, really. If I did, there'd be more horizontal action and all the big swords you see will be …

Additionally, I have to thank everyone who has reviewed. Thank you very much. And if you are reading, please leave a comment on what should be improved, what you like and don't like about how I write. I enjoy the feedback. Don't bother flaming. Been there, done that.

* * *

Cloud was sure half the tears in his eyes were from frustration and not from wind-burns. Still, he did not slow down as he rode towards the spot Vincent had pointed out on the map of his bike's navigation system. He was so humiliated he wanted to run away and hide but he did not think he could leave Vincent behind. After all, the man had dropped whatever he had been doing to come and bail out his ass he did not want to seem ungrateful.

Thankfully, Vincent remained quiet, his golden claw wrapped around Cloud's arm, his gun-arm free should they be attacked while riding. Cloud did not think it likely that they would be waylaid by anyone. The way he was feeling he wished someone or something would attack so he could just chop its' neck off and work out some of his frustration.

Cloud crouched over the handlebars, revving up the speed as much as his eyes could withstand with the air flow, feeling the comfortable weight of Vincent leaning against his back. Vincent, unlike other humans did not give out body heat. Instead, his body was roughly about room temperature, something which had amused Cloud in the beginning. His companion was a steady reminder that he was not alone. Vincent's calm cool breath down the back of his neck made him feel better for some unknown reason and Cloud fought the urge to lean back.

He shivered slightly as the air around them turned colder; with all the Mako and Jenova cells in his body Cloud did not get affected by the cold the way a normal human would, but that did not mean he did not feel cold. He was human in every way, just a little different. Cloud was a little annoyed that Vincent had not even made the connection between Cloud's undressed state at the prison; this from a highly intelligent man who could tell Cloud scientific theories on Jenova cells and the life stream. It had been insulting. It was not as if Cloud was without normal urges.

It was not even the first time he had been with a working-girl so to speak. Or so he thought. Sometimes his memories mixed up and he what he would think were his would be Zack's. He had a very clear memory of celebrating his promotion by going out with a couple of friends and getting laid at one of the expensive strip clubs only he could also remember arranging his hair before leaving the room and in the mirror his hair had been black, not blond.

However that was not what had triggered his little rebellion. It had started when Tifa had announced her engagement to Barret. Cloud could remember that day clearly. He had been up in his room, above the bar, cleaning his sword when Tifa had come up the steps hesitantly, her face flushed with excitement but also pensive as if thinking of something that was robbing her of the joy of the occasion.

It was not as if Cloud had not seen it coming; it had probably started about the same time Marlene and Denzel had started calling Tifa 'mom' and Barrett had come home more often than usual from the oil mine. Cloud had seen them flirt in their own way across the bar and had acknowledged the change. But he had not foreseen an actual marriage … he had half expected the bar room mating ritual to go on, the same way his half-life seemed to. But when he had seen her at the door of his room he had known.

"He proposed to you," Cloud had stated, not even making it a question. "Congratulations." And had nicked his hand on the corner of the blade.

"Cloud," Tifa had sounded hesitant as she had stepped into the room. "You don't mind do you?"

"Will you stop the wedding if I say so," Cloud had teased her while shaking his hand until the shallow cut healed discreetly.

"Yes," Tifa answered back without missing a beat. "You're still my best friend and …"

"Tifa," Cloud had said, putting aside the sword and standing up. He took a step towards her before he stopped. "You're my best friend but that's all I'll ever be so…" He really did not think she still had her childhood crush on him but for her to answer that way meant there were some feelings still there.

"I know," Tifa answered steadily, taking a step into the room. "But I don't want to leave you all alone. You cut yourself off from people as it is … you came out of your shell when the triplets attacked but afterwards, you just--"

"Everything is alright," Cloud responded. "I'm fine, you know that don't you. I want you to be happy." The conversation was fast becoming uncomfortable and he did not want to dredge up uncomfortable topics. Not when it was supposed to be about something that was making Tifa happy. There was never anything to laugh about and he was pleased one of them was living a life.

"I want you to be happy," Tifa echoed his final sentence. "I don't know if finding someone is the key to your happiness but really, Cloud, sometimes I think you just don't even make an effort to be happy. You're going to grow old and become one of those grumpy old men who live all alone."

For some reason that had stung. Cloud had however, taken a step forward and placed his hands on Tifa's shoulders. "Trust me, there is no danger of that," he had said. "I'm fine. So, when is the wedding?" He had tried to change the subject.

"We haven't decided on a date yet," Tifa had answered back, ready to change the topic, at least for the time being. "Maybe in a couple of months." She leaned back, not breaking Cloud's hold on her shoulders, but giving them both some space. "I mean it Cloud, I'm not asking you to marry me. If you're not happy with the situation, I'll put this off for a time until you are ready to deal with it. I love Barret but I love you too. As a brother. And family comes first, remember that."

"I love you too," Cloud replied, pulling her in for a hug and Tifa, clearly surprised since Cloud was hardly ever a physically demonstrative person. He was touched by her sentiments and by how much he was hurting her by cutting himself from everyone else. "Just go out more, meet people," Tifa had told his left shoulder. "It's not as if you are crippled or god forbid, ugly."

"That's stereotyping," Cloud had told her, his nose buried in her hair, smelling the soft floral scent of her shampoo.

"Oh, just go out and get laid at least," Tifa had told him, drawing back and hitting his chest with her open palms. "Live a little."

"I will," Cloud had promised her, realising it had been over five years since he'd had sex, even the type you had leaning against a brick wall with a drunk friend. Perhaps he should just get laid.

Cloud was not exactly the most sociable of people and his daily dose of people included the ones he served drinks to behind the bar when he helped Tifa and the ones he made deliveries for. But he did have needs, the same way any healthy male would and decided that he might as well act on them, now that Tifa was attached and would not be hurt by him looking elsewhere.

Not that he was going to look at anyone close to Seventh Heaven. He was living in Tifa's house and bringing someone to him room meant leading that person through the bar area which made him cringe. Going to someone in the vicinity was unthinkable. Tifa played the role of big sister very well, though she was his junior and he knew she would be disappointed if nothing else. So there he had been, making deliveries to New Hope when he had decide to pick up Jes.

Or rather Jes had made a business suggestion to him the same way she always did when he went in for a drink at the bar and he had accepted. Much to the surprise of everybody there. The town people were used to seen Cloud make deliveries and Cloud knew his bike and his sword did not endear him to any of them. They had probably been listening outside the room door for all he knew from the way people had come streaming into the room the moment Jes had started screaming.

It had been an accident. Jes had made some remark about' pretty boys' and had patted his hair and he had pushed her hand away. Only a few people were allowed to touch his hair and Jes was not one of them. Annoyed, she had tried to crawl off him which was not what he had wanted. After all, he had already paid for her services and they were naked, and in bed and he was turned on, simply because there was a willing warm body on the top of him. He reached out and dragged her back, intent on pulling her back on top of him. And instead her arm had come loose…

Cloud cringed at the memory and the bike crested a small incline and slammed into the ground hard. He looked at the map on the display and way glad to see that they were close to their destination. He did not want to think about the disastrous incident and more and maybe he and whores just did not mix. His stunt at the Honeybee strip club had given him nightmares.

As the mob had swarmed into his room, it had been the thought of Tifa's disappointment had he taken his sword and hacked everyone down that had forced him to grab his cell phone instead. It was after he had been forcefully led down the hallway, that he realised he did not have any clothes on and someone there had given him an overly large shirt which stank of sweat and dirt.

Vincent's claw around his middle tightened briefly and Cloud realised they were almost at their destination. It was just as well since he was getting swamped by memories and none of them were to his liking. Additionally, the sky was overcast, announcing, announcing rain and he did not want Fenrir to get wet. Water played hell on the pistons even if the bike was meant to be water proof.

Cloud slowed down as they rode over the last incline and reached their objective. They were close enough to the marshes to feel the change in temperature but not so close that they could smell it. Cloud looked around slowly before spotting the shack, built in the overhang of a hill, small and surprisingly comfortable looking. He had not known what to expect but somehow he had expected Vincent to live in a shack which resembled his red cloak - functional but tattered.

Close up the shack proved to be in surprisingly good condition, well repaired and cared for. Cloud brought Fenrir to a halt and turned around, wiping the tears from his face. "We're here," he said unnecessarily and paused. He knew Vincent was pale but at that moment he looked positively unhealthy and there was a slight green tinge which he did not think was a result of bad lighting.

Vincent swung his leg off the bike, landing on the ground with a small stagger, his usual grace missing. Cloud reached out, his hand closing around Vincent's bicep to steady him.

"Vincent," he said, worried. He was sure Vincent was going to throw up, faint or both.

"I'm fine," Vincent said with a shrug, his face half buried in his cloak that all Cloud could see was his hair falling over his forehead. "The ride unsettled me."

Cloud knew Vincent could withstand much more than that and was puzzled by the evasive reply. However, he did not press his point, putting it aside for later. It was not as if Vincent was susceptible to regular illnesses as ordinary humans were and he seemed to have recovered quickly

"So," he said looking around as he dismounted. "This is where you live."

"Would you like to come inside," Vincent said dryly. "I should inform you though, I don't have a bathroom, just an outhouse. If you want to wash, there is a stream about thirty yards away."

Cloud gaped at Vincent in disbelief. "It's going to be freezing," he protested and was rewarded by a half-smile.

"Then you'd better make it fast," Vincent said as he turned around, his cloak flapping dramatically. "I'll see if there're any clothes that fit you."

* * *

Cloud sat on a sturdy chair, sipping coffee from a mug with little airplanes on it, wondering if it had belonged to Cid. He glanced around the one-room cabin over the rim of the mug, feeling the t-shirt slide down his shoulder again. Though Cid was only an inch taller than Cloud, he was wider, and his clothes therefore were too big for him.

Cloud could not help observing that for a man who lived alone on the side of the marsh, Vincent had an awful lot of things belonging to the Highwind pilot. After all, Cloud was wearing a pair of shorts and t-shirt belonging to Cid and in his book, anyone leaving clothes in another man's house spoke volumes about their relationship.

The cabin was clean, with a rug on the floor, a table, three chairs, a few cabinets and a single bed under the single window. It was the single bed that gave Cloud a pause. Vincent had not said anything about Cloud leaving, he had made in clear that he expected Cloud to stay as long as he had wanted to but the single bed – Cid's clothes. Cloud shook his head and took a sip of the coffee which reminded him of high grade industrial cleaner and made a face.

"I'm sorry, I do not have any cream," Vincent said, having noticed Cloud's grimace as he stepped into the cabin with a folded cot. "This," he said, "belongs to Cid. You can use it during your stay."

"Cid seems to spend a lot of time here," Cloud could not help saying, wishing his tone did not sound so accusing. It was not as there was a law against it, even if Cid was married.

"He hides here when he wants to get away from Shera," Vincent said blandly, as if he had not heard the tone of Cloud's question though Cloud knew Vincent was a very observant man. "Flies by in one of his planes and spends time tinkering with it and eating my supplies."

"Oh," said Cloud looking away, wishing he had not brought up that subject. "Uh… Vincent, thanks for coming to pick me up."

"You would have done the same for any of us," Vincent said with a shrug. He drew back a chair and sat down carefully. "You are welcome to stay here as long as you need."

"Thank you," Cloud said putting down the mug on the table. "Nice place you've got."

"You sound surprised," Vincent said with a small smile as he bent down and started to undo the buckles of his boots. "I suppose most people expect me to sleep standing up on a fence pole somewhere."

"More like a coffin," Cloud mumbled under his breath knowing Vincent would hear him while the man in question continued to undo his boot clasps. "I didn't think those come off." Vincent usually slept fully dressed during their travels since it was hard to guess what would interrupt their sleep during the night.

"They're really grafted to my feet," Vincent deadpanned as he pulled off his boots revealing long, slender feet and rather slender calves. He stood up, picking up his boots as he did and placed them in a corner of the room. Then standing up, he started to up do the clasps in his cloak.

"Uh," said Cloud sounding very intelligently. He was not body shy, years in the army cured him of any self consciousness but really, Vincent was not going to … He pushed off his cloak leaving his black shirt on. All of a sudden, without the bulk of the cloak, he looked extremely slender and young. Almost fragile.

Next, Vincent looked at cloud for a moment and then unsnapped the clasp of his claw, pushing it off as well. Cloud took a sip of his coffee and tried hard to think about it, Vincent was at his home and it was his right to wear what he wanted and Cloud imagined he probably changed clothes and took baths naked. Still, to watch Vincent slowly remove the parts of him that made him … well him, was unsettling.

As Vincent pulled his arm free of the claw, Cloud could not help but focus on the arm, scared with fingers that curled up as soon as they were free of the constraints. He had seen such injuries with soldiers who were badly burned or maimed; the arm was technically dead. The fingers could move a little if forced but could not even hold up a tea cup. It was the claw that powered the arm, making it something other than a useless limb.

Slowly, Cloud looked up at Vincent who was looking at him directly, this time without the collar of the cloak to cover his face. Cloud opened his mouth, wondering what to say. Cloud realised it was Vincent's way of putting him at ease. After all, Vincent had seen Cloud at his worst and this was his way of making it alright. Still, as he opened his mouth to remark on it, hoping he was not going to blush when they were interrupted by the ringing of Vincent's phone.

"You seem to be getting more calls than my delivery service does," Cloud said with a raised eye-brow.

Vincent looked at the display of his phone and for a moment, an unreadable expression crossed his face. "It's Cid," he said abruptly. "I have to take this." He stepped outside leaving Cloud in the cabin, mouth open in surprise.

* * *

A/N- Has anyone seen this clip of the game.

Go to youtube and search for a clip by this title

Let's Play Final Fantasy VII #011 - Strip Club 

(cut and paste it)

Inspiration. What does Cloud do with seven guys in a tub … and this is a part of the original game. That plus him dressing up as a girl, who said he was straight. :D

Busy month, end semester exams…I'll do regular updates soon.


	4. Chapter 4

bTitle:/bStranger things ….

bAuthor: /b Aidan Bard lj user= "aidannwn "

bPairing: /b Cloud x Vincent and a few others

bRating: /bNC-17/Adult –Eventually. I think by around PG – 13 for now

bWarnings: /b Romance, Comedy, Action, crack and all else. I normally write crack so it bleeds into everything I write.

bSummary: /b The love life of heroes is never smooth sailing. But there are monsters to slay, friends to keep track of and people inbetween who just need to be put in their place.

bBeta:/b lj user= " x_cybergoth_x"

bDisclaimer: /b I do not own any of the characters. What I'm doing is strictly for fun. I do not gain anything from this apart from a few reviews.

b Note /b More plot building for now. I'll have them in bed by the next chapter.

a href=".com/ffvii_#cutid1" Part 1/a

a href=".com/ffvii_#cutid1" Part 2/a

a href=".com/ffvii_#cutid1" Part 3/a

lj-cut text="Part 4"

Part 4

The moment Vincent stepped out, he felt naked, not just because he was dressed casually and his boots were still inside. Without his claw his left hand was useless, forcing him to hold the phone in his gun-hand. If he were to be attacked, he'd have to drop the phone and reach for his gun, a delay he was wary of. It was true he would recover from almost anything other than a decapitation, and he had never tried that so he did not know if even losing his head would kill him but he did not want to find out the hard way.

He braced himself against the doorframe, carefully keeping his back to the inside of his cabin, hoping Cloud was occupied enough not to eavesdrop. While Vincent knew the young man was polite enough not to do so deliberately, the blond had enhanced senses and there was no way around that.

"Cid," Vincent said gruffly, knowing he was in no position to act as if Cid had betrayed him. The fact was Cid had never, ever even hinted that he was interested in Vincent _that_ way and Vincent was not stupid. He had been far too good a Turk to misread body signals. However, he had gotten to see a lot of the Highwind Captain after their "save the world" adventure. Cid had dropped by on Vincent, spending time at his cabin, leaving his personal belongings around and Vincent had started spending time around Cid at Rocket-town until Cid had all of a sudden gotten married.

Vincent had been confused about his feelings about Cid, was it friendship or was it more? He had thought there was time to figure it out but all of a sudden there hadn't been and Vincent was not about to get on the wrong side of a relationship triangle again. Not that he thought Cid was the type to swing his way or to cheat on Shera, and he really did not want to go anywhere on that direction of thought.

"Vince." Vincent _winced_. No one called him that apart from Cid and he wondered for the hundred and fifty-first time if his attachment to Cid had also come from the easy familiarity with which he had been treated with, the nicknames and the disregard for personal space.

"What is it?" Vincent managed to sound partially civilized, not that Cid ever minded. Cid would breeze in and out of Vincent's life, no matter how much he growled and snarled. Which was probably why Vincent had been hurt when Cid had simply breezed out and not come back as frequently as he used to since he'd gotten married.

"I got a visit today from him lordship in white, today," Cid said without much fanfare.

"Rufus Shin-Ra?" Vincent guessed, wondering what that was about.

"Came in his new airship." Cid made airship sound like a curse and despite himself Vincent smiled a little. He could imagine Cid, chewing on his unlit cigarette, looking thoroughly pissed that anyone else had the nerve to fly while he was there.

"What did he want?" Vincent asked. He did not think it was to congratulate Cid on getting married a month back. Then he signed to himself. Vincent knew it was going to take him a while to get over the point that Cid was no longer free, that he belonged to someone else. In a way, Vincent could understand Cloud freaking out at Tifa's announcement; the girl was all that was left of Cloud's past and his family.

"He didn't say straight out but spoke about starting the space program," Cid said and Vincent felt his hackles rise. "He did make me an offer but…" Cid trailed off, sounding thoughtful.

"He what?" Vincent said slowly, frowning. Shinra could not afford to waste money on something as trivial as a company party for Christmas let alone start launching things to space. They just weren't funded that way now that they did not have access to unlimited Mako supply from the Earth's lifestream. "Sounds like a carrot and stick to me."

"It is," Cid admitted. "The fucker wants something… just won't admit it."

"If all he does is talk…"

"That's just it," Cid ground out unwillingly. "He brought blue prints on the new rocket he's planning and I can tell you, that baby is going to fly. It's got this new propulsion engine which is …" Cid sighed as he realised Vincent probably lost him there.

Vincent mentally shrugged. He was not the greatest technical expert around, Cid made up for that in many ways.

"He wants Shera to be actively involved in the project of putting a man in space," Cid continued and Vincent frowned. Was that why Cid had finally settled down with Shera, because she was more technologically oriented? "She took a look at it and from what she says, that thing is good."

"And…" Vincent prompted.

"He wants me to pilot it." There was real longing in that voice. "Me, go to space." Cid groaned in frustration. "Vince, I'm growing old. Very soon, I'll be too old for this shit and some young upstart will fill in. I can't do that, I just want one shot at this, Vince…"

Vincent said not say anything. He did not age normally and he knew what Cid meant. Cid was not immortal and his one dreams, to be the first man in space was just within his reach. "What did he want?" He finally asked.

"He wants me to take him somewhere," Cid admitted. "But he wants the whole team so it sounds like something dangerous."

"He wants us to fight for him," Vincent said in disbelief. "It must be a crisis."

"You bet," Cid said with another sigh. "Anyway, I said no. Told him to stuff his rocket up his ass and take a running jump off a cliff."

Vincent could imagine Cid doing just that though he wished Cid had found out about the planetary crisis that had Rufus Shinra worried. He was curious to find out what had made Rufus this desperate. Something that required a lot of physical force, Vincent was sure. Otherwise, Rufus could have done with the Turks. Something that involved a couple of deaths perhaps, and Avalanche was expendable manpower. Still, information was vital and he wished Cid had played his cards better.

"And did he leave after you said that stick around to have tea?" Vincent asked.

"I tell you, it annoyed that hell out of those Turks he brought along," Cid admitted. "But I have a feeling he'll approach the others in the group, one by one until one of us gives in. So I'm warning you first, be prepared to be ambushed soon."

"Thanks for the heads up," said Vincent pleased that Cid had thought of him first.

"He aims for the weaknesses," Cid warned. "Those damn Turks of his…"

Vincent agreed. Turks were good at that, sniffing out weaknesses, for finding the one thing that would break a person. "I'll pass the message on to Cloud," Vincent said, wondering now that the main reason for the call was over, if Cid would want to continue with some trivial bit of conversation or…

"I've got to go," Cid said abruptly. "One of the propellers has an oil leak. I'll catch up with you later, Vinny."

Vincent put the phone in his pocket and turned around to see Cloud resolutely not listening as he rooted around in the far corner of the cabin in what passed to be the kitchen.

As Vincent stepped further into the cabin, Cloud looked up, scowling. "You don't have any food," he said almost accusingly and Vincent remembered the Solider metabolism.

"There're some onions in the bottom drawer," he offered, remembering the wild onions he had brought back a few days ago.

"Found them. They're growing teeth," Cloud mumbled.

"Give me a sec," Vincent sighed reaching for his boots. "I'll go shoot something for you."

At that Cloud froze, giving Vincent a strange look, and shook his head wildly, fighting back a smile though it was hard to say. "Was it something I said?" Vincent asked, feeling slightly out of his depth, as he usually did when a person around him reacted unexpectedly to one of his comments.

"Nothing," Cloud shook his head, making his spikes bounce. "What did Cid say?" he added, changing the subject very un-subtly.

"You must have heard," Vincent said walking to his cupboards and rooting around. While he did not have much need for food, Cid had been practically living in his cabin and Cid ate as any normal person would. Since neither of them were good cooks, there had always been something that could be thrown in hot water and … Vincent snorted as he pulled out a pack of instant noodles and threw it at Cloud. He could see that Wutai brand mark on the side and wondered when Cid had made that side trip to pick up the stuff.

Cloud reacted predictably at the sight of food, pleased -- but it did not distract him from the topic at hand. "I heard," Cloud admitted looking around. "Please tell me there is a place to boil water, I don't want to go out and chop some wood and haul water from the stream in a bucket."

That, Vincent thought was an extremely long sentence for someone like Cloud. "I have a gas stove and tap," Vincent pointed out amused.

"Right," Cloud nodded getting on with the chore of opening the packs, Vincent counted three and throwing them into a large saucepan. "What do you think?"

"Isn't three too much for you?"

"About what Rufus Shinra wants," Cloud was not going to be distracted. He filled the saucepan with water and kept it on the stove and looked at the old fashioned controls in puzzlement.

"He's desperate this time, more so than the last when Kadaj and the others attacked," Vincent continued leaning forward and pointing to the on button of the stove. "Otherwise, he would not have made a personal visit."

"Why Cid?" Cloud wondered aloud.

"And not you?" Vincent queried.

"Why Cid," Cloud repeated stubbornly.

"He's probably the one Rufus managed to find a weakness to tempt," Vincent replied. "Not to worry, he or one of his stooges will be here for us, one by one."

"I don't want to get involved in this again," Cloud said trying to look stubborn but coming back looking sullen instead. "If it's Sephiroth, he can come and find me."

"Maybe it's not Sephiroth," Vincent said.

"You know something," Cloud rounded on Vincent, his eyes keen and even dressed in oversized clothes, looking as pretty as a girl, Vincent remember why he had let this man be the expedition leader on their hunt for Sephiroth.

"Maybe," Vincent agreed, tilting his head to the side before sidestepping the blond. He wished he was wearing his cloak with its' protective collar, where he could conveniently hide half his face.

An extremely strong grip closed on his upper arm and spun him around as intense blue eyes met his. "What do you mean?" Cloud demanded and there was fire in his eyes. Vincent knew Cloud's protective instincts would rise the moment he felt any of them were threatened. "Is there anything I should know?" Vincent wondered if it was the normal solider body temperature or if it was his own lower than normal body temperature that made it the grip on his arm feel like hot coal. He could practically feel the finger tips searing in to his skin.

"It's the place where Kadaj and his brothers came from," Vincent said slowly, knowing the blond would be persistent. In a way, Vincent found it intriguing as he watched the intelligence beneath the pretty façade emerge as Cloud took in the single sentence and analysed it.

"There's more like him." It was more a statement than a question but Vincent felt it his duty to answer it. Perhaps then Cloud would let go of his arm.

"Or just to find out where they came from," Vincent replied. "Whoever sent them had money and influence so there must be a base of operations."

"What makes you think there is a base of operations or that someone sent them," Cloud countered. "Do you have proof?"

"The Turks must have some proof," Vincent said. "Or Rufus would not be in such a rush. Even without it, you have to consider those kids were armed, clothed and had bikes not to mention toilet trained so they weren't raised by wolves in the mountains."

"Could have fooled me," Cloud said, letting go of Vincent's arm as the water started to boil. "Hey, food's ready, want some?"

Vincent, who had been wishing he would be set free, immediately missed the grip. It was the human contact he thought to himself as he reached for soup bowls under the sink.


	5. Chapter 5

Cloud appreciated the quiet companionship as he and Vincent sat on their respective beds, cleaning their weapons. The fold up bed which Cloud was assigned to was not very wide but it was sturdy enough to hold all the pieces of his sword and his cleaning kit. Cloud sat cross-legged, his back against the window sill, facing the other bed, all his cleaning implements spread in front of him, methodically going over every inch of his swords, inspecting them for dents and other signs of over use.

Vincent, his gauntlet on, sat on the other bed, which was perhaps a couple of inches wider than the camp bed , his back to the wall, facing Cloud, methodically dismantling his guns and going over them with an oily rag. Vincent was barefoot, one leg outstretched, long, pale foot visible, the other leg, bent at the knee, kept flat on the bed. The room was silent but it did not feel strained. In fact, Cloud liked it this way; where there was comradeship but he was not forced to make conversation.

He hefted one of the smaller blades and leaned forward to see if there were any dirt marks. While his mako enhanced eyes adapted to the dark easily, Vincent's cabin was illuminated by a couple of weakly fluttering gas lamps, making it hard to see fine details. What Cloud did see was his face reflected on the surface of the sword and scowled at the image.

It seemed as if he had stopped aging when he was sixteen. His eyes were still startlingly blue and his hair still had a mind of its' own. His face was far too pretty, bordering on feminine. After all, Cloud thought to himself, he had managed to pass himself off as a pretty girl, at the age of twenty-one, and had even fooled an old man, who was supposedly an expert in girls to choose him over Tifa and Aerith. Those two were…had been, Cloud remained himself, Aerith was still dead - exceptionally pretty and for Cloud to be selected over them meant – he was prettier than a girl when in a dress, some make up and a wig. Not the most heartening of news. He would have chosen manly or simply good-looking over looking as pretty as a girl any day. No wonder he was still single.

Or was he still single because he was so confused, floating around aimlessly like the cloud he was named after. Cloud lifted his head and looked at Vincent to see if his seemingly narcissistic habit of staring into his reflection had been noted. Vincent seemed busy, inspecting his bullets one by one and even if he had noticed, Cloud was sure he would not have uttered a single word about it. That was what Cloud liked about Vincent, there was no condemnation for his actions. However, that did not free Cloud from stewing in his own guilt. "You know," he said softly as he set the left piece down and picked up the centre-right piece and the polishing rag. "I think I went to Jes because Tifa was getting married."

There was no reply from the opposite bed, not even an indication that Vincent had heard but Cloud knew he had.

"Tifa's the only one remembers me for who I am," Cloud continued. "I have gaps in my memories, things that are not mine. I think Hojo messed me up, put some of Zack's memories into me, or maybe the Jenova cells absorbed it from him when he was dragging me out. Anyway," Cloud swallowed and picked up the central mechanism, the release which came with the hilt of the sword, "Tifa knows me and she's been with me all this time. Even when I don't call back, I know she's there it makes me feel … nice." One of the cogs felt a little stuck; Cloud gave it an experimental tug. "I don't love her that way and I know it's selfish of me to expect her to be there for me forever but, but… but…"

"You were lonely," Vincent said suddenly, his voice making Cloud jump though he had known Vincent had been there all the time. "Jes was a brunette working in a bar."

"No," Cloud said sharply. "Jes is nothing like Tifa."

"And at the same time she is like Tifa, but neither of you care for each other. Perhaps that was the reason you decided to find comfort in her arms," Vincent supplied calmly.

A part of Cloud wanted to jump up and scream that it was not so while another part struggled with the unexpected anger. He shook his head and hung it down in shame. "I'm not sure what you mean," he said instead.

Vincent looked up then, his red eyes shinning in the semi-darkness before nodding and looking down again. Cloud knew Vincent had read the anger and shame in his eyes but had not reacted to it. Instead, he shrugged elegantly and put aside his firearms. "I suggest we get some sleep, I have a feeling we'll be having some visitors first thing in the morning."

"ShinRa" Cloud asked, glad of the change of subject. "Do they even know where you live?"

"They keep track of all of us," Vincent replied blandly as he slid off his bed and started to put his guns away. Cloud watched with something close to awe as guns disappeared into hidden niches in the wall, under the bed, on the bed, under the pillow, between the bed frame, one into the roof. There was a sudden pause as Vincent put away the last gun and for a moment, he crooked his head to a side as if listening to something. Then he shrugged, giving his head a shake and for a moment, Cloud could almost see a faint black swirl around him, like a large shadow.

Cloud closed his hand around his sword, wondering if Vincent was about to shift forms but it seemed as if it was only a trick of the light. Instead, as Cloud continued to stare, Vincent started to unbutton his shirt.

Cloud sliced the base of his thumb open from the top up to his wrist, as his sword slipped, before he caught himself. Cloud could feel the blood flowing sluggishly as he brought up his hand to his mouth and sucked the cut, forcing his enhanced healing to kick in, while Vincent calmly started to unfasten the next button, letting the black material slide down his shoulders as he continued.

Vincent's skin was not smooth as Cloud expected it to be; there were scars and aberrations which should have healed given how fast Vincent regenerated and patches of skin that just didn't match but moved startlingly in the light. Despite all the monsters living inside him, Vincent managed to look almost fragile. This body did not have an inch of spare fat and despite being taller than Cloud, he was slender enough to look almost willowy. While the looks were deceiving, Cloud not help but appraise the body closely, noting the …

Cloud was off the bed before he had realised it, his hand outstretched, even as he kept the injured thumb in his mouth. His fingers came into contact with the breast bone and he started to move his fingers down, over the ridges. "It's like you have a spine where your breast bone should be," Cloud said slowly before he became aware of what he was doing. Close up, he could see Vincent's nipples clearly, one slightly higher than the other, and was glad he had not impulsively blurted out his discovery of the gunman having uneven nipples.

Blushing furiously, Cloud withdrew, pulling back his hand sharply. Vincent's skin was cool to the touch and amazingly supple. "I'm sorry," he said as Vincent calmly divested himself of his shirt while stepping back out of Cloud's reach. Cloud looked at Vincent's face to from under his lashes, suddenly embarrassed by his reaction and worried that he might have offended his friend. Vincent's face was blank, almost withdrawn but he did not look displeased.

"Most people would not be fascinated by something like that," Vincent said softly. "Maybe repulsed, but not fascinated."

"Yes, well, that explains why you act as if you have no backbone," Cloud said flippantly as he realised just what he was doing. Blushing furiously, he drew back, letting his hand fall to the side as he looked out the window. "So, you sleep…" Cloud almost said _naked_ but stopped in time. _Yes_, he thought to himself. _This is me, Cloud, making groundbreaking advances in conversation._

Vincent seemed more amused than self-conscious as he finished shrugging off his shirt. "I do not need as much sleep as a normal human would but I do enjoy getting some rest from time to time. These days, strangely…" he looked away with a look of wistfulness. "…the nightmares are not as frequent as they should be."

Cloud frowned. "Should be?" He asked, wondering what that meant. Vincent had expectations about nightmares which was a strange thing to say.

"Think nothing of it," Vincent said turning around and much to Cloud's amusement, started to braid his hair into a rough braid, his gauntlet making it clumsy. "I'm old enough to mumble on about things …" And he pushed back his forehead scarf to tie down his hair and Cloud felt his jaw drop.

Vincent was gorgeous.

His forehead was high; wider that what would be called the normal standard of beauty, saved from being outright odd by the way his hair fell but for Vincent, it was perfect. He had a face which was neither young, nor old, just ageless as his eyes and his lips were…

Cloud did a one eighty and rushed to the window sill, just to stop himself from doing anything stupid. He really was a twenty-something year old stuck in a sixteen year old body by the looks of it.

"What's wrong?" Vincent asked and Cloud could almost see Vincent reaching for his gun.

"Nothing," said Cloud, his face turned away, not wanting Vincent to see that he was the color of a tomato. "It's raining."

True to his word, the downpour that had been threatening all day was starting, huge drops of water falling from the sky.

"Oh, Gaia, it's raining," Cloud repeated, this time his mind coming to terms with his mouth. "Fenrir is going to be soaked." In a second Cloud was out of the cabin, bare feet slapping the wooden floor, pulling up his too-big shorts as he ran. He ran to his bike and looked around for someplace where he could use to shelter it. It was stupid, he could not let his bike get soaked. After the battering it had taken at the hands of Kadaj and the gang, Cloud had taken extra care of his bike. It was his life line to reality and to his job.

"You might as well wheel it in," Vincent sounded amused as he stood at the doorway, looking so unlike himself in his half dressed state that Cloud was tempted to stand outside in the freezing rain just to keep himself busy. Cloud swallowed, then pushed Fenrir into the cabin, wondering if it would fit in through the door and if there was space inside at all. To his surprise, he realised Vincent had folded the camp bed to make room for the bike and was standing there expectantly.

Cloud did not think he could push the bike back outside since the rain had picked up from a normal downpour to a torrent. Instead, he manoeuvred it inside and propped it up by the kick stand and looked at Vincent who looked more amused than anything else.

"Sorry," Cloud said feeling like an idiot. "I couldn't let it get wet."

"I've been around Cid long enough to know all the evil things that rain does to machinery," Vincent deadpanned, then added almost as an afterthought. "I hope you are not going to be too uncomfortable sharing the bed with me tonight."

* * *

It had started with an ordinary training accident, when Reno had been hit on the head by a six by six wall. Rude had stayed awake with him until the doctors had pronounced his concussion over and he could be doused with enough healing potion to cure an army. Reno had been sure his new partner was going to ask for something in compensation for keeping him awake. After all, he knew there was no such thing as a free lunch. Perhaps a piece of his ass, literally, or a couple of connections to the right people but the demand had not come. In fact, Rude treated it as a normal incident and as time passed, Reno discovered Rude was so straight, had he been any straighter, he would have bent backwards. Additionally, Rude considered Reno a friend and treated him accordingly. Even when Reno was at his stupidest, with his wild schemes and over the top strategies, Rude would roll his eyes, put on his shades and follow Reno wordlessly.

Which was why it hurt so much to see his friend lying in bed, motionless as all the other machines competed to make the most beeping sounds.

"The doctor says he's going to be fine," Tseng said as he appeared over Reno's shoulder.

Reno nodded in acknowledgement but did not even look up from his position, holding onto Rude's hand as he sat by the bed.

"It was my fault," he said, feeling guilty. "I didn't mean for the entire overpass to collapse."

"What is done is done," Tseng said wit his usual aplomb. "I have an assignment for you that needs your expertise."

"Send some one else," Reno snapped, feeling a little miffed. He was covered in dirt, bruised and bleeding from scratches and Tseng wanted him back on the streets beating up people. Usually, he would not have objected but then again, usually, his partner would not be hanging on to life through a tube down his throat. While it was tempting to take out his frustration on a couple of not so innocent bystanders, Reno did not want to leave Rude's bedside in case he missed anything. Just like Rude had been there for him, he wanted to be there for his partner.

"While this is a touching scene and I do encourage loyalty to partners, I see little use in you wasting your time by a comatose patient." The person who practically snarled those words was not Tseng, forcing Reno to get up and turn around, fighting the urge to straighten his clothes.

"President SinRa," Reno said with mock respect. "It's nice to see you all the way down here in the basement." It was not the basement, it was the medical wing but Reno was seriously pissed with the blond. If he had not decided to go traipsing around the world on his airship to see some cranky old guy in Rocket-town they would not have been attacked and none of it would have happened.

Reno could see Tseng looking at him with the weary look of parents looking at their wayward children – wondering how long they were going to survive.

"I do not have time for this," Rufus snapped unimpressed by Reno's display of temper. "Change into a new suit, I am sending you on a recruitment mission."

"Who is it going to be this time?" Reno asked as he shifted from side to side to work out the kinks in his back. "The chick with the nice rack or the …"

"Strife," Rufus said and his face had a smug look as if he had found an alternate power source to replace mako.

"Oh." Reno was interested. Strife was so emo that persuading him to do something was like forcing Sephiroth to cut his hair. "The golden boy slip up?"

"More than you think," Rufus said, motioning towards Tseng and Reno noticed for the first time that he was holding on to something. A lot of leather with buckles and snaps, like something from a fetish club or a … Reno frowned then smirked. "His sword – erm-- harness."

"Our operative in New Hope came through," Tseng said with a look of smug pride. He and Rufus had an ongoing disagreement on placing Turk operatives in out of the way towns.

"She did," Reno asked in surprise. His opinion of Jes had just gone up a notch.


	6. Chapter 6

Part 6

Vincent woke up as he always did, abruptly, with all his senses online and lay there on his bed, sensing his surroundings carefully without opening his eyes. He was warm and comfortable, his body was fully pressed against another smaller warm body -- which was something that had not happened in a long time. There was hair tickling his nose, smelling faintly of mako, metal and the cheap soap he used. An odd combination, not entirely unpleasant but one that spoke of strength and male-ness.

Vincent shifted a little and opened his eyes to see a blurred fluff of bright yellow under his nose. Of course, Cloud, fast a sleep, his smaller body pressed against Vincent's in an almost child like simplicity as if seeking warmth. Only Vincent was aware that his body was not warm -- he was a walking corpse, animated by four monster that lived inside him.

"_**What was that, my host**_," the voice seemed to whisper in his ear but Vincent knew it was inside his head. "_**Did you just call me a monster**_?"

"_Chaos_." Vincent had perfected the art of speaking to his monsters without opening his mouth. After all, he did hang out with other people from time to time and he knew speaking oneself drew more attention that his usual attire did.

"_**I'm well aware of who I am**_," the voice chuckled sounding amused. "_**I finally got you a blond morsel; all for nothing … you disappoint me**_."

"_Mind I remind you, you did not get me a blond morsel_," Vincent said, mentally gritting his teeth, referring to Cloud by the nick name bestowed upon him by Chaos. "_You forcibly had me start undressing in front of him_. " When Chaos had forced Vincent to unbutton the top button it was either to have raging mental battle in front of Cloud and come across as even more mentally unstable than he already was, or carry on as if that was what he had intended to do, all along.

"_**You are starting to …**_" Vincent clamped down on the voice, hard, so hard he was sure he was going to wind up with a nose bleed, but at least the voice ceased. He must have shifted sometime during his internal conversation since Cloud shifted as well and mumbled something before burying his face against Vincent's chest and exhaling.

Vincent closed his eyes reflexively as hot breath fanned his chest, on to his nipples and sent all his blood flowing down to his groin. He looked down carefully to make sure his bed-fellow was still asleep and was rewarded with the sight of a painfully young face, relaxed in sleep, looking far too fragile to be the saviour of the Planet.

Cloud was indeed a tempting sight. His face, relaxed in sleep made him look much younger, one of his hands was curled under his head, the other was in front of him, loosely curled into a fist, almost touching Vincent's chest. His mouth was open temptingly, the tip of his tongue peeking out and each time he exhaled, his lower lip dipped slightly and Vincent was not dead enough to ignore such an enticement.

Their positions were not so compromising that their lower bodies were rubbing together for which Vincent was grateful since he did not want his erection rubbing against the said cause of the erection who was sleeping soundly, and trustingly in his bed. He pushed himself up carefully and sat up, tensing his muscles to get off the bed when the blond stirred.

Cloud's eyes opened and he looked at Vincent sleepily, blinking in the manner of new born kittens and stun spell victims. "Huh," Cloud said unintelligibly.

"Go back to sleep," Vincent said softly. "I'm just getting up."

The hand closest to him uncurled and made a reflexive gesture as if to hold Vincent back but Cloud was awake enough to stop himself. "'k," he said with a nod. "Night."

"Good night," Vincent replied though it was early morning.

"You have uneven nipples."

Vincent looked down so fast his neck creaked but the blond was fast a sleep after imparting that piece of information. He felt his lips twitch at the thought, it was not as if nipples were that uneven, the left one was slightly lower than the right, a sort of family legacy passed on from his father which was not exactly noticeable.

Once he had his legs under him, Vincent leapt off the bed and landed silently on the wooden floor on the tips of his toes. He picked up his gauntlet and put it on, flexing his fingers before putting his gun back in its usual place. He turned around as a bout of nausea swept over him and he held still, his head titled to an angle afraid to move until the feeling went away. He did not want to admit it but he knew something was wrong. He had not gotten sick since he had woken up from his coffin and all of a sudden he was gifted with both vertigo and an urge to hurl his guts. It had, in fact started since that damn uincident/u he was trying to repress and the constant reminder of his actions was annoying to say the least. Scowling Vincent started to walk towards the front door; perhaps some cold air would help his condition.

As he skirted around Fenrir, which, in his opinion was taking a god-awful amount of space in the cramped cabin, he froze. It was nothing, really, a reflection within a reflection, seen from the side of the bike's surface, distorted and blurred but Vincent's eye sight was not that of an ordinary persons'.

He silently reached for an extra gun, just to be sure, thought of slotting some extra materia then shrugged it off as unnecessary. He knew who was outside and if his guess was correct, it was not to have a fight with him. Vincent, though retired, was not stupid enough to let his training go to waste. Mentally apologising to Cloud, he leapt onto Fenrir then crawled out though a gap in the roof he had specifically designed for quick, discreet exit.

From his perch on the roof, Vincent was able to sweep the flat ground before him and smirked when his eyes fell on the intended target. Without his cloak flapping around him, Vincent was able to land neatly behind the victim and jam his gun to his lower back before the target was even aware of anyone.

As predicted, the target did not even flinch when he felt the cold metal through his too thin cotton shirt and bright blue jacket. Flicking a long strand of bright red hair out of his eyes, Reno smirked back at Vincent.

"Yo, you're good, ever thought of joining the Turks," he asked casually. Then he posed dramatically, slapping his hand against his forehead as if remembering something. "Oh, I forgot, you were but you couldn't keep your pants on long enough."

Vincent growled, pulling back the gun and put it back, keeping his hands free. "Thought you'd show up here eventually," he snarled, not giving way to the taunting. "And the answer is no, not interested in what Rufus ShinRa has to say."

"But you haven't heard our offer," Reno said, his shoulders curling inwards as he jammed his hands in his pockets and slouched back as if he was leaning against an invisible wall. Vincent was secretly impressed; that pose was hard to maintain.

"Not interested," Vincent said looking around with his eyes narrowed. He was aware that he had just woken up, was decidedly underdressed without his boots, cloak or forehead wrap but was not about to let the red head get the upper hand of the conversation. There had to be another Turk somewhere around, didn't the red head hand out with a bald Turk; they always operated in pairs.

"What ya' looking for?" Reno drawled, taking pleasure in sounding like a low class bum.

Vincent turned his head slightly, his eyes fixed on Reno for sudden moves and sniffed the air. Nothing. "You're alone," he stated finally. "Where's your partner?"

"You think I need backup to handle the likes of you, yo?" Reno sounded offended as he straightened out.

"I don't trust Turks," Vincent replied.

"Takes one to know one," Reno said lightly as Vincent made to go inside. "So, where is he?"

Vincent scowled, turned around and started walking towards his cabin, deliberately keeping on turning his back to Reno to show him that the conversation was over. However, he kept his guard up though he did not think a direct blow from Reno could kill him. Heck, he didn't know if anything could.

"Come on, Valentine," Reno said, his voice sounding more professional than it had a minute ago. "You want me to follow you in there or what?"

Vincent turned around slowly, knowing that he did not want Reno to see Cloud asleep on his bed; the blond had looked so relaxed he did not want to wake him up to the leering face. "Say your piece and go away," Vincent said firmly, his hand resting on his gun. "I don't have time for this."

"I got a couple of photos to show you," Reno said as he reached into his pocket. Vincent stiffened. "Just my phone, yo. Even ancient relics like you must have heard about these new communication devices." He held out the phone to Vincent, and he could see that there were no incoming calls. "All the photos are here, yo."

Vincent took the phone in his claw carefully and looked at it blankly. It was a new ShinRa model, given solely to its' employees with the black chrome cover and the prominent ShinRa logo on the back. It also came with a multitude of buttons which he knew next to nothing about. He had never operated anything so complex before. Modern cell phone operators probably had degrees in brain surgery by the looks of it.

"You're suppose to press the red button and then scroll down to the folder, yo." Reno sounded as if he was having the time of his life.

Vincent scowled and held the phone back to Reno. He did not want to impede his gun hand for even a second by pressing the button, not this close to Reno. Despite his laid back attitude, he knew the Turk was fast and did not want the risk of falling into a trap. Anyway, he had no idea what the Turk was talking about. His cell phone did not take photos.

With a barely conceal look of glee, Reno took the phone, pressed the buttons with exaggerated, slow movements and handed it back to Vincent. Vincent took the phone, fighting the urge to shoot the red head, and looked at the screen. And looked again.

"Might I present you with a perfect shot of one silk black thong," Reno said with the air of a talk show presenter.

Vincent made to hand back the phone – or more likely throw it at Reno's head …

"Previously worn by Cloud Strife, you'd think he doesn't believe in underwear but really, I guess all the black he wears heats up and he does need some insulation between his…"

"Where did you get this from?" Vincent growled.

"Oh, wait, it gets' better, scroll down and …"

Vincent had no idea what a scroll down was where none of the buttons referred to anything.

"It's a touch screen so you can just flick down …" Reno paused when he looked at Vincent's claw and seemed to reconsider the idea of that on his phone screen. He casually stepped forward until he was standing directly in Vincent's personal space without flinching.

Vincent fought the urge to step back as he was assaulted by the scent of sweat, cigarettes, blood and caffeine. Reno, it seemed had been awake for over 48 hours and was more tired than he was willing to show. He did not smell of recent materia usage or potions and Vincent wondered whom Reno had killed to get human blood on him.

"Here," said Reno, oblivious to Vincent's internet musing as he approached the next picture and handed it to him. Vincent found himself looking at Cloud's sword harness, not the magnetic one favoured by SOLDIERS but the one he had designed specifically for the multiple parts of his sword.

Vincent looked up sharply but Reno did not falter under his gaze.

"We got a report Strife attacked a female, broke her arm and …"

"It was an accident." Vincent knew he sounded defensive.

"But why did Strife call you and not his woman?" Reno asked with a leer in his voice and Vincent almost shot him in the head for the sake of it. "Admit it," Reno said slinking around Vincent, leaving the phone in Vincent's hand. "I hear they're raising kids together, wonder what they'd do if they hear all about their daddy's little adventures."

Vincent looked up in disbelief. "Are you blackmailing me on behalf of Cloud?" he asked.

"What do you think," Reno said moving back and Vincent saw that the redhead was now keeping some safe distance between the two of them. "This way he doesn't need to know anyone knowing his dirty little secret and …"

Vincent ignored the rest of the prattle as he scrolled down the photos. When needed his claw was rather flexible and he was a quick study. After watching Reno use it once, he was able to figure out how to go to the next photo in the thing. However, he did not think Reno would have left anything interesting in his phone since he had easily left it in Vincent's grasp. Turks were not careless and for Reno to survive for so long on the job meant he was not as sloppy as his outer image was. There was a photo of Cloud's shirt, a female in a compromising position, Rufus ShinRa looking annoyed at a meeting and … Vincent froze and stared.

"Saw it," Reno asked from a safe distance, rocking back and forth on his heels, hands back in his pockets.

Vincent continued to look at the badly distorted picture of a silhouette, taken by a person facing the sun, probably hanging upside down from a roof.

"It was taken by a kid in Junon and we think it's real," Reno continued, sounding smug since he had gotten Vincent's attention.

"Is it…" Vincent started to ask and stopped. The light was so bad he could not see that much colour but what he could suggested the person in the photo did not have long hair. Just a long coat and a single wing. A massive black wing with which he was flying. Though he could not see clearly, Vincent did not for a moment doubt that the person was male.

"We have no idea," Reno admitted softly, his voice serious. "It could be one of the remnants that escaped. We know you've been tracking them."

Vincent looked up, letting his gaze rest squarely on Reno and waited. "You're good at this," he said softly, letting his voice drop at octave until it was almost a growl. "A blackmail threat and an incentive to get me interested. Tseng must be proud of you."

He expected the red head to react to the praise, what he did not expect was for the man to smile openly, making him look ten years younger. However, he collected himself and smirked. "Yo, I just got complimented by Vincent fucking Valentine," he chortled. "Is that a yes, you'll come and bring emo-boy with you."

Vincent rolled his eyes. "We'll come," he said, his keen hearing picking up the sound of someone moving around his cabin. Cloud was up and he wanted to get the meeting over with.

"Then it's nice to know this trip was worth it, yo," Reno said sounding pleased. "Do you know how hard it is to hike through the bloody grass."

"You walked," Vincent asked in surprise.

"Flew," Reno said with a grimace. "Had to land the 'copter far enough so you won't hear it and that was _very_ far away."

Vincent actually felt sorry for the kid for having to walk so far but he was not about to invite him back for a cup of coffee. Instead, he handed back the cell phone and turned his back to Reno. They were no longer family, he was no longer a Turk and he certainly did not owe them anything.


	7. Chapter 7

Two chapter to show I'm sorry for not updating in a while. I went home for my holidays and just got back :D So two chaptrers in short order. Thank you for the reviews everybody.

Chapter 7

"Tifa, what do you mean what's wrong?" Cloud said starting to sound like Denzel after he had eaten all the cookies in the jar. "Nothing's wrong … I just needed a little break and… that's all."

"You decided you needed a break while on a routine delivery and dropped off the face of the planet for two whole days!" Tifa did not sound angry. She sounded like someone who had just finished being angry and was on the way to exploding. "I was worried. I thought you had run your stupid bike into ditch or something and Marlene had nightmares when you didn't come home like you were supposed to …"

"I'm so sorry," Cloud tried to put into the tirade. He did feel bad about not contacting Tifa earlier and he knew the kids expected him on Wednesday to read them bedtime stories.

"…and Billy called, wanted a down payment on the greens to feed your chocobos," she continued brutally. "I told him I didn't have money to feed them Mimett greens so he said he was going to give them something called Ga--Gahshyl…"

"Gysahl," Cloud corrected.

"Something like that," Tifa ignored the interruption. "For this week… but he said if you wanted to take your golden chocobo for racing you might have to fork out a couple of thousand to feed them."

Cloud rolled his eyes. As long as he was in Tifa's good books, they were 'their' chocobos but the moment he did something to make her angry, they became 'his.' Still, he knew Tifa meant well and was genuinely worried about him.

"…and a couple of Turks dropped in yesterday…"

"What?" Cloud asked as he sat up straighter. "Did they come in or …"

"Cloud," Tifa said in mock patience. "I run a bar; of course they came in and had a drink."

"Oh," he said at a loss for anything else to say. He did not particularly like the Turks, who was he kidding, he did not care for them at all, especially Reno and his bald partner who was always staring at Tifa's chest. "Are the kids safe?"

"Now you ask," Tifa said dryly but she sounded as if she had calmed down. "Are you alright Cloud? Really? Don't lie to me."

"I'm not hurt," Cloud said honestly. "I'm really,_ really_, fine. But I don't know when I'll be back, maybe next week." He liked it at Vincent's. There was no pressure and he had not realised just how much of his free time had been taken up by the kids. While he loved kids, a break from all of them seemed like such a relief. He felt guilty that he had saddled Tifa with everything, the kids, the chocobos, the bar, answering the phone for his delivery service, collecting payments from clients, planning her wedding since she did not have anyone to help her out… alright, he was being an ass and hoped Tifa was not too angry with him for abandoning his duties.

He took a deep breath and tried again. "Erm, Tifa, I need a favour," he said carefully.

"What is it?" Tifa sounded worried as in 'are you hurt' way and not, 'oh, no, not another burden' which was rather positive overall.

"When Cid comes around to drop off the supplies, can you send some of my clothes with him?" There was a silence on the other side of the phone. "Tifa?"

"What happened to your clothes?" Tifa sounded stilted.

"Nothing," Cloud assured her hastily. "I mean, I need a spare change since I don't have any and …" He was bad liar but really, that was plausible.

"And you want Cid to fly it to you," Tifa sounded strangled. "What happened? Did you play strip porker with Reno or something."

"You know I don't associate with Turks." Cloud wondered where Tifa got her imagination from, it certainly was not her father. Still, he wished he had thought of that excuse which seemed more believable under the circumstances. "Tifa, please, just something to wear."

"You're not going to tell me what happened are you?" Tifa said sounding weary. "Fine, I'll send you something to wear. Any preference?"

"Just anything," Cloud said, pleadingly. He did not think he could wear Cid's clothes any longer. The sweats tended to slide down his hips and he needed to constantly pull them up when he walked, which was very tedious. However, most importantly, he felt uncomfortable wearing clothes that belonged to a man who might have been or still was Vincent's lover. "Thank you," he added for good measure and hoped Tifa was not too angry with him about his latest adventure.

* * *

"So, Vinny what really happened?" Cid demanded as he chewed on his unlit cigarette.

Vincent wondered if he should pretend he did not understand what his friend was referring to but the rather obvious presence of Cloud, tinkering with Fenrir's engine outside made him realise it was pretty useless. "Nothing," Vincent tried anyway and looked out the window to make sure Cloud was indeed outside as he had been since Cid's single engine airplane he had named "Mustang" in memory of "Tiny Bronco" had landed. While he was not hiding, Cloud was clearly avoiding Cid.

"He showed up at your door step on his bike, naked?" Cid mused aloud.

"No." Vincent gave the pot steaming on the stove a look and decided it was in no danger of boiling over.

"You two had wild, wild sex and you tore his clothes to shreds with your teeth and …"

"Cid!" Vincent wondered if he sounded as scandalized as he felt. Cid had been hanging around the wrong people far too much if he could come up with something like that unless he and Shera … no, Vincent did not want to go into that line of thought, thank you very much.

Cid shrugged, obviously not giving a damn about Vincent's fragile sensibilities as he walked around the cabin … which took about three seconds. "So, how long has he been here?"

"Two, maybe three days," Vincent said with a shrug then looked at Cid. "Are you going to talk to Rufus ShinRa?"

Cid looked up sharply and grinned. "Changing the topic that crudely, Vinny I'm shocked!"

Vincent did not bother replying as he opened the lid to the pot and stirred it before looking around.

"What'ya making?" Cid asked out of the side of his mouth as he leaned over Vincent's shoulder to peer inside. "Vinny, my boy, are you actually cooking?"

"Its rabbit stew," Vincent said ignoring the rest of the conversation.

"Vincent," Cid said seriously. "The rabbits here have poison dripping from six inch nails."

"I cleaned them," Vincent said as he waited for Cid to ask why Vincent was cooking when he did not need to eat. However Cid seemed to know he had pushed Vincent as far as he would go since he shrugged and sat on the camp bed which Cloud was using, before reaching for another cigarette.

"Not like you or SOILDER boy out there will die of poisoning," Cid finally remarked, looking amused by the conversation. It was very rarely that he got the upper hand of Vincent in a conversation.

Vincent glared at Cid, not that it did anything to intimidate the pilot.

"Just don't get him pregnant," Cid added, looking pleased with himself.

He probably expected Vincent to react to that comment, either glare even more or snap something about that been an insane remark. When Vincent remained silent as he tried to process the information, Cid got up confidently; seemingly pleased he had managed to stun the ex-Turk into speechlessness.

Cid walked up to the pot, picked up, Vincent's long handled, multi-purpose spoon and opened the lid to see what exactly was cooking. Vincent sat, mind reeling as he assimilated what Cid had said. It was not as if he had not thought of it, his monsters did not come with user manuals and he had not looked into the mirror or consciously examined himself during a transformation to see if all his bits were male or female. He did not know what sort of sick joke Hojo had played on him, perhaps making him less than human. He had been feeling nauseated and dizzy; in random spells but still, it had started when Galien had gone on a mating spree with …

"I think the stew is just about ready," Cid interrupted his train of thought before it could progress any further. "

"I think it'll be wise if we all go and speak to Rufus," Vincent latched onto the first topic he could think of as conversation. "If there is a threat, it's best if he hear about it rather than waiting for it to come find us." Even before Reno had showed up with the material, Vincent had been curious as to why they were needed. He had thought his Turks days were over but it seemed his instable curiosity had survived a thirty year sleep. Additionally, he had been one of the first to know about Kadaj and the gang and he was not about to let something he had been investigating slip through his finger.

"And ShinRa would never have called us if it was to blow out the candles on a birthday cake," Cid said, agreeing. "Did Cloud convince you or did you convince Cloud?"

"I suggest we all choose some neutral ground and call for a meeting. He came to you first," Vincent ignored that last sentence. "So you can call him up and let him know where and when we want to meet since he made first contact with you." There, that would teach Cid to keep him mouth shut and his nose out of unnecessary business.

"It's not going to be Healin is it?" Cid said with a grimace.

"No, that is ShinRa owned," Vincent replied. "We need somewhere they don't control."

"I'll think on it," Cid replied and Vincent let the matter drop.

"Let's call in Cloud if the food is ready. He's bound to be hungry," Vincent said instead.

"No need," Cid nodded towards the door. "He's here already."

Vincent looked over his shoulder just as Cloud walked in, looking slightly distracted as if he wasn't all there. Just as Vincent was about to open his mouth to inquire what was bothering him Cloud seemingly tripped over something invisible and fell onto Vincent, hard.

* * *

Cloud looked at the cabin again as he spit on a particularly hard patch of dirt and scrubbed it with the wash cloth. The grit remained stuck to the black paint job like a Mideel leech to a divers' facemask.

He looked at the cabin window, again.

Before, he had been able to see Cid and Vincent move around a little but now, it seemed as if they had stopped moving. '_Maybe they are sitting down_,' Cloud reasoned. Although the only place to sit down comfortably was on the bed, another part of his mind pointed out.

'_Grease_,' thought Cloud, forcing himself to concentrate. '_I need to grease the piston rings and the hydraulics need looking in to and … I don't care,"_ he reason_. They can do what ever they want… I…_' He closed his eyes and shook his head to centre his thoughts before opening them again to find himself kneeling mid-thigh in the grass.

Only, it was not the same grass a few second ago. There was no Fenrir in front of him for one and for another, the air felt sweeter, some how lighter as if he would float away if he were to breath too much of it. There was the sound of flowing water, some one, female, giggling in the back ground and the feel of a very warm, solid presence at his back. His eyes watered as he tried to focus on the surroundings, which were blurred around the edges. Whenever he looked at something in the distance, it would jump into focus sharply before fading away as if his eyes were playing up.

Cloud, already familiar with the lifestream and his random conversations with dead people started to turn, a rare smile gracing his lips. "Aerith, I…" he started but a hand on his shoulder steadies him making him stay still. A large, warm hand, far too large and firm to be feminine.

"Aren't you even a little curious as to what they are up to in there?" a familiar voice asked, almost in his ear. "Perhaps they're doing some horizontal tango …"

"W…what if they are?" Cloud stumbled on the first word, realising that it was Zack who was talking to him instead of Aerith as usual. His throat clogged and for a moment all he wanted to do was turned around and look but he stopped himself. He felt as if he was split in two, one part holding a conversation while the other part was leaning into the heat generated from Zack's body. It was strange that some one dead and gone could feel so real, especially when he couldn't be seen.

"Admit it, Spiky," Zack said and Cloud could feel the smile in that voice. "You want to know."

"So what if I did," he countered. "It's none of my business really."

"Even though you're sharing your bed with a vampire," the friendly voice continued. "Even if you ogle at him when he undresses."

Cloud could feel a blush start somewhere near his neck and work it self up to his cheeks. "I've travelled with him you know," he said defensively. "He's my friend."

"But I'm your friend and you ogle my ass every day," Zack said sounding far too cheerful for a dead guy. Again, somewhere in the distance, some one giggled and Cloud wondered if Aerith was standing in a corner enjoying the conversation. She did have a rather questionable sense of humour and some of her pranks were worse than Zack's.

"Did not," Cloud snapped back, reverting to a childish retort out of defence. It had always been that way with him and Zack, they would argue over the most ridiculous of topics, mostly something Zack had thought up on the spur of the moment. Looking back Cloud could remember himself being more annoyed by those arguments than amused but now, he realise he had missed those witty come backs and funny one liners.

"But it's such a waste…"

"I am not interested," Cloud ground out through gritted teeth.

"Temper, temper, Spiky," Zack thumped him on the shoulder cheerfully. "You still have that if nothing else." Then he sighed and Cloud could feel the cheerful mood evaporating. "Guess I should get down to business since we have limited time."

Cloud stiffened at that. Aerith never told him anything directly and he never asked but for Zack to speak to him, it had to be important.

"Walk with me," Zack said and Cloud was transported to his cadet days. Zack would catch up with him in-between corridors and say the same thing, "walk with me" and they would walk up to Cloud's next class, catching up with the events of the day in the little time they had to themselves. It had been so familiar that Cloud had to blink away tears again. It was also the same three words that had led him to following Zack to all the madcap pranks he had played on others (Turks, Scarlet, to mention a few), which he had wanted Cloud to witness in person.

Cloud stood up automatically and almost looked over his shoulder before he stopped himself. It was an unspoken rule, you did not look at the dead directly unless they wanted you to. "Where to?" he asked.

A firm grip on his upper arm steered him across the grass. Cloud could see the dark purple uniform from the corner of his eye and wondered if the lifestream did not allow people to change clothes or if they appeared to Cloud in their familiar garb. He was still too short, he realised as they bumped shoulders; he was never going to be as tall as Zack as he had always hoped to be and he had an uncharacteristic urge to turn around and throw his arms around his friend.

"You'll be meeting a couple of people soon," Zack told him as they walked.

The grass felt springy, almost buoyant, and Zack's breath felt warm on his ear. Cloud did not turn his head since he did not want his friend to disappear but he could feel his resolve weakening. "How soon?" he asked to keep himself in focus.

"Soon enough," Zack replied. "Time is relative here, hard to tell." Cloud could practically feel the shrug. "Anyway, you'll know because they won't be your friends." Another shrug. "At first."

"You want me to help someone?" Cloud guessed.

"Save is more like it," Zack replied. Already Cloud could feel his surroundings fading like transparent film through which he could see the next room. "I've got to go Spiky," he said, sounding sad and a hand patted his head as if he was a child. Before, Cloud would have shrugged it off, now he froze, afraid to move in case the contact broke even though he knew it was pretty useless.

"Zack…" his throat clogged.

"One more thing." Cloud looked up in alarm since that tone did not bode well for anyone. If memory served, it was the tone just before being flung off a building into the pool below or just before a cherry pie was slammed onto his head.

Even as he turned, Zack gave an undignified yelp. Cloud caught sight of a strong, muscular arm with fingers pinching Zack's ear in his peripheral vision. As he was dragged backwards like some wayward child, Zack stuck out his leg and tripped Cloud, who had not been expecting that move.

Suddenly, he was in the real world, in Vincent's cabin, tumbling into Vincent's arms, knocking them both over. Vincent froze, as Cloud knew he would. Had he been an enemy he would have been pushed away. However, since Cloud was not, Vincent simply took the brunt of the fall, landing on the cabin floor cushioning Cloud with his body. It was not a particularly hard fall, just unexpected and as Vincent brought out his arm to grip Cloud, his gauntlet snagged in the waist of the loose sweats Cloud wore.

There was a brief struggle as Vincent tried to push Cloud to a side while Cloud tried to stand up, resulting in a tearing sound and the sweats calling it a draw to the tug of war. Cloud paused as Vincent tried to move his hand back down and landed on Cloud's now, bare bottom.

They froze; Cloud half on Vincent, half off, his face inches away from a bony shoulder bone, smelling the almost wild scent that permeated around Vincent, animalistic with a hint of something herbal, probably his soap or shampoo. His hip was digging into Vincent's middle not that either one of them ever complaining. And to top it off, Cloud could feel his body responding to the close contact with someone warm, unquestionably alive and well, he hoped it was because of that and not because he was on Vincent specifically. It would be uncomfortable if he wanted to grind his hips against his friends'. Especially when said friend did not consider him to be anything but that … and he really, really hoped what he was feeling was one of Vincent's guns against his thigh.

This was starting to get …

"Have you two considered getting a room," Cid said conversationally from his perch on the camp bed. They frozen then got to their feet with surprising acceleratory, Cloud holding his sweats up. "Well," Cid shrugged. "Food's ready, grab a plate or a bowl."

Cloud wished the ground would open up below him as he stood there. "Uh, Cid," he finally said, hoping he could distract the pilot. "Did Tifa give you anything for me?"

"Oh, yea, she did," Cid nodded as he reached for his backpack. From there he pulled out smaller carryall and threw it at Cloud who caught it one handed, the other hand occupied with keeping his clothes on. "Didn't look too pleased with you, though."

"I hope she's not too pissed off at me," said Cloud as he pulled down the zipper and found out, just how angry Tifa was with him. She had packed for him a pink dress with ruffles and his bikini briefs.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Rufus ShinRa hated everything Cloud Strife stood for.

He hated Cloud with the sort of hatred that burned in his chest and made him want to pull out his gun and shoot through the one way mirror as he stood there in the alcove above the meeting room. It had been Rufus' practice to arrive early for meetings and stand in the alcove above, observing his minions below, as they prepared for their grilling.

Not that AVALANCHE were exactly his minions. Not that it mattered very much since Rufus intended to use them as he did with all his employees. Especially since Cloud Strife led that rag-tag band and that made them all expendable.

It was amazing how he and Strife were similar in certain aspects. They were the same age, the same body type and they were both blond. But their similarities ended there. Even their clothes were of opposite colour as if to emphasize their differences though Rufus did not think it was a deliberate choice on Strife's part.

Cloud Strife, emo poster boy for AVALANCHE, stood for everything Rufus ShinRa was not. While Rufus was roped to a desk, Cloud was as free as a bird, roaming the world on his bike. While Rufus had to force his employees into submission, not that he would have it any other way; people followed Cloud out of respect and love. When Strife had walked into the main ShinRa compound, people had flocked to look at him and Rufus had spotted several people getting his autograph. When he had mentioned to Tseng about it sarcastically (how saving the world made people celebrities), Tseng had pointed out most people who wanted Strife's autograph were Chocobo race fanatics. Apparently the man owned a golden chocobo he had bred with his own hands. The only consolation was that Strife appeared just as flummoxed as Rufus was with all the attention he was getting, blushing, and stammering though Rufus was sure scratching the back of his head in a disarming gesture was calculated ploy to make people feel sorry for him.

To add to the insult, Rufus was almost a cripple after the explosion that took out half his empire. His spine had snapped and it had only been thanks to his scientists that he was able to walk again. Just as he was finding his feet, literally, he had been struck by geostigma. Which had done nothing to slow down Cloud Strife, apparently. His recovery had been pushed back months if not years and while Strife rubbed it in his face by riding a humongous bike; Rufus was reduced to tottering around with the aid of a walking stick. Though he could walk unaided, the strength in his lower body was limited and his legs failed him far too often for him to be comfortable with the arrangement. However, Rufus swore, no matter what, he would walk into the meeting room, even if it was the last thing he did. Strife was never again going to see him again as a cowled figure in a wheel chair and nor was he ever going to listen to that snivelling voice say, "Rufus ShinRa, boy do I feel sorry for you."

Life was not fair.

However, Rufus was honest enough to admit the reason he hated Cloud was not all that simple.

When Rufus ShinRa was fourteen, he had fallen in love with his father's greatest asset and Shinra's most powerful weapon. He had watched his father flinch whenever Sephiroth had entered a room and had felt his legs weaken at the thought of all that power. The General was dangerous; he never walked, he glided down corridors and when he did, people bowed to him without even thinking about it. Rufus wished he could garner that much respect from his subordinates. But then he had started to notice other things, long slender finger that gripped a sword almost as tall as he was, the smooth white skin that never marred, never got sunburned, never had a single pimple, the long silk hair which Rufus knew would feel as soft and cool as it looked. He knew when his father died the company would be his. And so would Sephiroth. And he had great plans for their only surviving General. In Rufus' fantasies those plans nearly always involved a lot less clothes and heck of a lot of horizontal action. With lube and toys and perhaps some leather straps.

He had dropped enough hints to the General, he was sure but looking back he realised his fourteen year old clumsiness coupled with Sephiroth's general lack of social awareness had doomed the relationship before it had even started. The General had never even suspected just how deeply Rufus had felt for him.

There were other interests, a few side issues like the dark haired First class Solider who had inherited Angeal's huge sword. Unlike Angeal who scared the crap out of Rufus, Zack had been friendly and disarming, treating everyone as if they were long lost brothers. Rufus had wondered if he should mould himself like Zack to get Sephiroth's attention. After all, Zack got to see a lot more of Sephiroth than anyone else did. He had outgrown his childish ideas as time had passed but he did not think his 'thing' for Sephiroth was something he quite got over. After all, Sephiroth was Rufus' first love.

Then, of course it had changed. Zack had gone missing, then was killed saving a useless cadet. A blond, spineless cadet called Cloud of all things. Then this very same backwater misfit had to add to the insult, killed the silver lining of Rufus' life.

It was true that Sephiroth was long lost by then, there was nothing left of him but the essence of anger and revenge, driven mad by Jenova and Hojo …but that did not mean Rufus found it easy to forgive that stupid little amnesiac Cloud who had killed his first love.

To him, it was as if Cloud was his own personal curse, killing all the men in his life by simply being there. With a startled glance down at the board room, Rufus realised Cloud had once again ensnared someone who meant (a lot to him) -- one of his employees into his grasp.

* * *

Cloud flinched visibly as Reno threw an overly friendly arm around his shoulder and drew him aside. While he knew he could toss Reno across the room (and Reno probably knew that too) he did not want to draw attention to himself in the manner. Added to the fact Reno was not doing anything overly hostile, Cloud did not think it would warrant him much merit in Tifa's eyes; for all her bluster, Tifa had a soft spot for Reno, which Cloud did not understand. Really, Reno was a Turk and an annoying one at that, not like Rude who was at least quiet. Who was also absent, Cloud noted with some surprise, leaving Reno paired up with Elena who was standing by the door, her back straight, face scrunched up in distance, either at Reno's behaviour or the presence of AVALANCHE members inside a ShinRa building or both.

Keeping an eye on Vincent, who was being overly friendly with the female scientist Rufus had invited to the meeting, Cloud managed a, "what do you want Reno," from the side of his mouth. Really, Vincent had no reason to chat up some female in a white lab coat for the fun of it. Remembering Lucrecia, Cloud wondered if Vincent had a weakness for such females. It was the only reason he could imagine for Vincent, who was almost as introvert as Cloud was, to become all talkative with such a woman. She wasn't even pretty, he observed. Just tall and thin, with sharp eyes and bony hands which moved nervously as she spoke. However, her eyes were fixed on Vincent with unnatural intensity like that of a hunting eagle on its' prey.

"So who topped, yo?" Reno asked, following Cloud's line of sight.

Startled, Cloud turned his head, blinking as his eyes focused on Reno. "What!" Reno was dressed in a crumpled suit and his tie was no where to be seen but it smelled as if it was freshly laundered and Cloud realised most of Reno's slovenly appearance was for show.

"You are shacking up with gramps there, aren't you?" Reno asked, all innocent though his eyes were dancing with glee.

"What's it to you?" Cloud snapped. "And what do you mean 'I'm shacking up with him'?"

"He got the bitch seat on your bike today," Reno supplied and Cloud wondered if it had been such a good idea to show up on his bike with Vincent. "And don't tell me you think of him as your father, yo." Again a glare and Cloud decided to keep his mouth shut which did not help. "You _are_ wearing his clothes, yo" Reno pointed out with some amusement.

"Go away, Reno," Cloud snarled. It was true he was wearing one of Vincent's smaller shirts and spare denim jeans from Cid, that had shrunk in the wash, (since he did not think it appropriate to show up to Rufus' meeting wearing a pink dress). The clothes he wore were still too large on his smaller frame though he did not think anyone would recognise the clothes. Then again, Turks weren't just anyone.

"So, back to my original question," Reno continued. "Which one of you topped?" Cloud decided the best policy was to ignore the annoying red head. Perhaps if he pretended Reno did not exist, he would go away. "I mean, I can see both sides," Reno continued unperturbed. "You're good looking enough to be pretty and short enough to be a sub but there's the whole 'I saved the world' thing going for you, plus the enhanced strength and all so you could also top. He's taller, older and had dark hair which means he tops but there's this whole attitude about his that screams save me from myself, which means he could be pretty submissive at times." Reno must really like the sound of his voice, Cloud thought as his face started to turn red. "Not to mention you aren't able to keep your eyes off him, yo," Reno continued.

"The only reason I'm keeping an eye on him is because I don't trust your scientists," Cloud spoke at last.

"Is that because you feel responsible for the group or because you feel something special for him," Reno inquired, hitting closer to home. As Cloud opened his mouth to tell Reno to shut his mouth and let him go when he was saved by the most unexpected of people.

Rufus ShinRa stormed into the meeting room, looking like a white swirl as he slammed his briefcase onto the table, starling everyone from their little circles and turned around to face Reno.

"Reno, why are you here?" he snapped. "Go stand outside and guard the room."

"Get a foot solider to do that, yo," Reno drawled lazily as he pulled Cloud closer to him. "Me and my new friend here is having a nice chat."

Rufus looked as murderous as he could and Cloud could understand the man was feeling none too pleased about being made a fool of in front of everyone. "Might I remind you, you are a foot solider, Reno," Rufus said coldly. "Kindly do your job."

"If anyone were to fight their way through all our security to this room the safest place would be inside, not outside, yo," Reno smirked.

"Reno," Tseng, who had been standing silently at the back of the room observing everyone, spoke softly and Reno stopped pretending to be a jerk.

"What," he said as he took his hand off Cloud's shoulder. "If you say so boss," he said throwing a half salute in his direction before slinking towards the doorway. "Take care, yo," he added to everyone in general as he disappeared pulling Elena in his wake, leaving them all silent.

"Well then," said Rufus in the ensuring gap in conversation. "Thank you all for coming at such short notice." He looked at Cloud and glared as if the delay was Cloud's fault and Cloud gave him a blank look. It was true Rufus ShinRa did not like him, even if he needed Cloud and Cloud couldn't care less. The only reason they had been able to meet within a week was because of Vincent's efforts. When he set his mind to it, it seemed Vincent was able to arrange things efficiently. However, they had not been able to pick a suitable location for the meeting. Instead, the meeting was in Midgar, which meant they were in Rufus' home territory.

"Shall we all sit down," Tseng's mellow voice interrupted their staring contest and Rufus looked away looking displeased. Cloud wondered what was bothering Rufus as Tseng pulled out a chair for Rufus at the head of the table then sat on his right. Reeve, who had shown up in person to the meeting, sat on Rufus' left forcing Cloud to brake free from his temporary paralysis and start towards the group – his friends and paused. Tifa, who had arrived in the morning in Cid's plane was seated next to Reeve. Dressed in a subdued brown suit, Reeve was excitedly talking about modifying Cait Sith to baby-sit which Tifa seem to greet with enthusiasm. Guiltily, Cloud realised that the children were nowhere to be seen and wondered where Tifa could have left them, not that he was about to walk over to her and ask just then. Tifa had spotted him the moment he had walked in, in his borrowed clothes and he had done his best to avoid a direct confrontation. Tifa must have read his mood since she had left him alone though Cloud knew she would eventually corner him and squeeze all the details out of him.

Barrett had not been able to get away from his mining rig on time but he had called to tell them he would be joining them soon. Last Cloud had heard Yuffie was far too busy with restoring Wutai to their former glory to participate in such a meeting and Red XIII had been out of com range. Cid had flown off to pick up something and Cloud, though sorry to see most of his old friends were missing, were glad that they were not about to be involved in whatever new madness that had emerged.

Looking around the table, Cloud chose to sit between Vincent and Tseng, preferring to put some distance between Tifa and him, just to be on the safe side. He knew her temper better than anyone and he was not too ashamed to admit that he was hiding. On Vincent's other side at the female scientist, still talking to him earnestly in a low voice and Cloud had to force himself not to eavesdrop. It was not his place to dictate whom Vincent should talk to just because Cloud was feeling a little left out. Cloud shook himself mentally; he had gotten used to having Vincent to himself for the past few days, that was all, it wasn't as if he was jealous or anything.

He was not jealous … where in the world had that word come from, and anyway … he looked up sharply and realised with dismay Tifa was seated directly in front of him and was watching him with something akin to amusement in her eyes.

"Hi, Tifa," Cloud mumbled, scratching the back of his head self-consciously. "How're the kids?"

"They're fine," she said, sounding cheerful, her eyes flicking back and forth between him and Vincent, making Cloud want to squirm uncomfortably. "How are you?"

"I'm … uh…" Cloud wondered if she had noticed his choice of clothes also, given that she knew he did not have anything to wear. "…doing great." He improvised. "Fenrir threw a piston rod…" Did that sound like a suggestive pick up line more than an actual machine part "… and I stayed over at Vincent's to fix it."

"That's nice," Tifa nodded, obviously not listening to half of what he was saying. "I see."

"What," Cloud said defensively. At first he had been afraid Tifa had gotten news of him and Jess but after his confrontation with Reno he was more worried people would recognize the shirt he was wearing. Not that he minded wearing Vincent's clothes and … he so needed to stop thinking.

"If you can come to the lab after the meeting…" Cloud turned his head so far he heard the wind whistle as he looked at Vincent. Had he heard correctly, did the female scientist just invite Vincent to the lab? Cloud opened his mouth to tell the female to take a running jump off the top floor when he paused; did Vincent look as if he was actually considering the offer.

That was just fine by him, if it was what Vincent wanted.

"I will be busy after the meeting, Ms. Wilde," Vincent replied, a half-assed answer as any and Cloud cringed. Did Vincent actually think it worth while to step into a lab just so he could spend some time with some woman?

"Oh, please, call me Virginia." Cloud almost groaned aloud. This was a freaking nightmare. He wondered what else was going to happen to make things perfect.

Rufus, who had been busy opening his briefcase and going through the documents for the show of it, looked up, over Cloud's shoulder at the entrance of the room and Cloud froze. He did not normally sit with his back to the door unless he was sure his back was safe. Just as he was about to turn around, he heard the familiar tread of Cid's boots and stopped.

Cid was back; perhaps things could get started and maybe later on, Cid could beat some sense into Vincent's skull. Beside Cid, Cloud heard the clip-clip noise of something hard against the tiled floor and turned around with a faint smile on his face. He knew that sound anywhere though he had not expected to see that person today.

"Red," he said, greeting Nanaki with warmth. "I didn't expect to see you today."

"Cloud," the big red tiger-dog greeted him, claws clicking against the hard tiled floor as he walked. "It's nice to see you. How could I not come when the Planet told me to?"

"So you were the extra something Cid went to pick up," Cloud said and could see Tifa get up and come around the table to greet Red in person.

"Not just him, silly," a chirpy, girlish voice said and Cloud saw Rufus flinch from a corner of his eye. "How could I let you all play with material and leave me out?" Cloud got up automatically as an exorbitant female ninja waltz into the room, wearing a short, skirt, a black top that stopped at her mid-riff and high heels that made her look almost as tall as Cloud was. While she was a great leader to her people, Cloud knew she relaxed when she was with friends, though reverting to her annoying sixteen year-old self made him itch to strangle her from time to time.

"Hello, Yuffie," he said but by then her attention had reverted to Vincent who was also standing up.

"Vinnieee," she screeched as she jumped into his arms, engulfing him in an enthusiastic hug. "It's good to see you."

"Now that everyone is here, shall we get started," Rufus cut in, in a cold voice before the rest could get a word in. Vincent calmly hugged Yuffie, ignoring Rufus and Cloud remembered that Vincent had been somewhat fond of the girl even in their travelling days.

"Can't you wait," Yuffie snapped at Rufus without missing a beat. "I just got here."

Rufus looked as if someone had slapped him and Cloud guessed that not many people spoke to him that way. "We are short on time," Rufus told her back in a controlled voice and Yuffie shrugged, pulling away from Vincent.

"Sure," she said cheerfully. "Just one thing though, why is Cloud wearing Vinnie's shirt?"


	9. Chapter 9

Part 9

Dr. Virginia Wilde was one of the best scientists ShinRa had to offer and had been an ardent admirer of 'Dr. Hojo's' work. However, her near inability to express herself in anything other than scientific terms and her tactlessness had made her a back bencher and thereby escaped Hojo's attention. In less than three minutes into her presentation, she managed to alienate nearly everyone in the room – as far as Cloud was concerned, nearly everyone in the room that mattered. Apart from Reno who was leaning against the door frame, making no attempt to hide his presence, who probably found whole thing amusing. Cloud bet Elena was listening from outside while keeping an eye on things.

Dr. Wilde's presentation started by describing the Remnants, going over the process of how they were considered failures. "In the case of Specimen C," she started, looking at Cloud then stopped puzzled when everyone at the table glared at her, with a '_what-did-I-say_' look which said everything.

"For the sake of propriety, he will be referred to as Mr. Strife," Tseng said dryly which did not help the situation.

"Yes," said Dr. Wilde in a manner which suggested she was not really sure why, "exhibited hyper-sensitivity to Mako, which is not a desirable aspect. In fact, the reason all SOLIDERS were male was because males react to mako more positively than females do." Her eyes fixed on Tifa just then and looked thoughtful. "However, there have been documented cases of people living around mako reactors who have high concentrations of mako in their bodies and if '_she_'," pointed at Tifa with her chin, frowned and then nodded as if remembering something, "Miss. er … Heart …er …anyway is a living example of such a case. I would like to run some tests on you if possible …"

"No," said Cloud, Cid, Vincent and Nanaki together which made her jump a little and Reno coughed from the doorway, sounding thoroughly amused.

"Of course there will be no invasive tests," Dr. Wilde continued. "We have limited such experiments to animals …" her eyes zeroed on Nanaki and looked thoughtful which did not endear her to anyone.

Cloud knew it was sometimes hard to remember Nanaki as anything other than the big red cat he resembled. Barret frequently referred to Nanaki as the 'big flea bag' and Tifa always fed him milk in a big bowl on the floor when he visited. During their travels, Nanaki had preferred to sleep outside instead of the tents and had hunted his own food more than once. Still he was one of the group and no one liked it when anyone outside of their little collection referred to Nanaki as anything less.

"Can we get back on topic," Rufus said dryly and she nodded, obviously dying to take everyone at the table down to the lab and dissect them but was held back by her boss.

"The most observable remnants are the ones we call Yazoo and Loz," she continued and started giving out a series of observations by which her team had measured their stamina, strength about them which Cloud did not listen to. As far as he was concerned, the only thing to do when faced with one was to pull out his sword. The doctor dismissed Loz, pointing out some form of mental development problem. Tifa looked as if she wanted to say something but obviously bit her tongue, her dislike for the doctor overriding her curiosity. Remembering that Tifa had been the only person of their group to get one to one time with Loz, Cloud wondered what she had wanted to know but dismissed it as unimportant. Had it been something really critical, he knew she would have spoken. Additionally, those two were dead and as far as Cloud was concerned, that was good enough, unless they were planning on a resurrection.

Listening to the doctor talk made Cloud's eyes glaze and he was not the only person who was losing attention when she started on her slides on Yazoo. "…may have solved the breeding problem," she continued.

"Problem?" Nanaki spoke up, making everyone jump. "I did not realize there was a problem."

"As I said before, the only successful products of mako infusion were males," the doctor said, looking disconcerted as if speaking to a lab rat. "Therefore, there was a lack of suitable females for breeding with the SOLIDERS. To breed females who were adaptable to mako infusions was one of Professor Hojo's dreams and one of his ideas was to start by modifying an existing male into a female."

"And this Yazoo is female?" Vincent suddenly spoke, making Cloud jump since he had not been expecting that. He looked over at the table and was not surprised to see everyone about to say something and wished they were alone without the outsiders so they could resort to humor as they usually did out in the field when faced with some unexpected news.

"He smelled male," Nanaki dismissed the statement with a wave of his tail though Cloud could see he wanted to add something else.

"He looked male -- somewhat," Yuffie said though the last word said she was doubtful.

"He sounded like a guy," Cid pointed out interrupting Yuffie before she could make a crude follow-up.

"He did fight like a girl," Reno spoke from the doorway, sounding slightly amused.

"A girl who kicked your butt," Tifa snapped back.

"A hermaphrodite at least," the doctor continued, looking offended by the whole light-hearted attitude of everyone. "Maybe," she added for good measure.

Cloud suddenly wished Barret was there in the group to express what everyone was thinking, 'who checked under Yazoo's skirt'.

"What does this have to do with the matter at hand?" Vincent asked dismissing the rest of the information as immaterial. Or perhaps he intended to follow it up discreetly at the correct time.

"By figuring out the remnants physical characteristics, we can narrow it down to scientists who are capable of producing such clones," Tseng said softly. "Which in turn help us narrow down the regions they or he might be residing."

The presentation continued for a little while longer but obviously the good doctor only came out of the lab to look at the world in-between experiments and needed to return since her centrifuge needed to be emptied of samples or something similar. Cloud who had zoned out by then tried to look impassive as she picked up her things and got ready to leave. Cloud stiffened as she walked past his seat, never comfortable with the thought of someone like her at his back when she stopped and looked at Vincent. "Will you becoming to the lab later on?" she inquired calmly.

As Cloud opened his mouth to tell her that she was obviously mistaken and should kindly mover herself out of his vicinity, Vincent nodded. "I'll be there soon," he said in a dismissive tone, as if displeased that she had brought up that topic in the middle of the conference room.

"Yes, of course," the doctor nodded then walked out so fast everyone blinked. At the door Reno gave her a mock bow which she ignored or frankly did not notice since she was already looking preoccupied as if planning her next experiment.

"I can't believe you have her here," Tifa said coldly as soon as she had left. "She is like a younger, female version of Hojo."

"If I let her go, I'll have to kill her," Rufus said coldly. "She knows far too much and she is intelligent. Here, I can control her funding and keep an eye on her experiments so nothing uncalled for happens but if I let her go, she might turn into another Hojo," he added. "Additionally, I need someone who is not squeamish to go through Hojo's files and understand his experiments."

Tifa remained thoughtful for a moment and then nodded though Cloud could see she was less than satisfied. Rufus stood up, a little slowly but steadily and walked to the projector. "Let's continue," he said as he went to his presentation.

Rufus ShinRa was talking; he had been talking steadily for some time though Cloud did not really have anything to listen to. He never had much of an attention spam when it came to listening to such useless things and he did not care for all the statistics they were being told. He shifted in his seat to a more comfortable position, wishing his sword was within arms reach instead of mounted on the wall alongside all the other weapons everyone else had brought. He was sure the Turks were armed even if they were not making it obvious and there were at least two Turks in the room.

He knew the relationship between the Turks and Soldier were complex at best and they did work together unless strictly necessary. He remembered that Zack had gotten on rather well with Tseng but then again Zack had gotten on well with nearly everyone. The Turks' presence made Cloud uneasy but he was not about to comment on it; instead he focused on Rufus who had been speaking during the time his mind was wandering and wondered if he had missed much. The world map projected on the wall was now sprinkled with red dots which Cloud assumed were key locations to … something.

"We'll need to do a sweep of each of these locations to verify the reports," Rufus droned and Cloud almost rolled his eyes. Typical, he thought, no wonder Rufus wanted them there. In his opinion Rufus wanted AVALANCHE out of the way, going from one location to the other coming across nothing while he perfected whatever mastermind plan with his opposition safely from Midgar.

Cloud bit his tongue waiting for his moment before voicing his protests. He knew he could not speak for everyone present, and he hoped everyone else would see the drawback of such an arrangement. However, he could not hide his displeasure on his face and Rufus was quick to pick up on that.

"Do you have a problem with this Strife," he said coldly, breaking off from his pre-planned speech.

"It seems to be a waste of time," he said, racking his brain to see if he could remember everything. "All these locations cannot be labs, why not send some of your forces to find that out. Why involve us?"

"Most labs, from what you said have to be near a mako stream, probably running water," Cid, who had been paying more attention than Cloud supplied. And unlike Cloud, he had been trained to be an aeronautical engineer and was probably of a higher than normal intelligence. "Why not search in such areas, not all over."

"We have narrowed it down to four possible labs in various areas," Tseng spoke softly, cutting off whatever scathing reply Rufus had been about to make. "Once the threat has been neutralized the rest can be destroyed by ground troops …"

"I don't see why you …" Cloud started to protest, ignoring Tseng's speech. He did not trust a Turk to tell him the truth; that was like expecting Barret to quote Loveless.

Whatever he had been said was cut off when Vincent discreetly put a hand on his knee, making Cloud jump though he managed to cut off the undignified squeak before it escaped his lips. Vincent's hand was warm and it gripped his knee firmly in a familiar manner, making him feel as if his entire focus was his knee.

"How many men did you lose?" Vincent ignoring the fact his hand was now resting on Cloud's. Though Cloud knew it was a gesture from Vincent telling him to be quiet, he wondered if it was as intimate as he imagined it to be. Perhaps, Reno who was leaning against the door could see it as well, and Cloud cringed at the thought. He did not want any more rumours thank you very much. Already his friends were looking at him and Vincent as if they were having a wedding, not Tifa and Barret and he really did not need the extra trouble.

Rufus looked at Vincent with a levelled glare. "I have no idea what you are referring to," he said.

"You must have sent forces there before this," Vincent said in a gravely voice, his face impassive. "But …" he glanced around the table and then continued. "…you don't have that many troops to send. Otherwise you would not have sent Turks to retrieve a piece of Jenova from the crater." He looked at Tseng who nodded his head, either in confirmation or just acknowledging that fact Vincent had rescued him from the clutches of Kadaj and the gang later on. "How many men do you have and how many men do did you lose?"

"We didn't lose any men since we didn't send any," Tseng said softly. He ignored Rufus' outraged look as he continued. "The Turks are all we've got and our numbers have fallen. We do have a few SOILDIERS but we don't have any on active duty and we do not want to send anyone to these labs without knowing what is there."

"Cloud is a SOLIDER in all but name," Tifa spoke up. "What makes you think it's safe for him to go there."

"We know we cannot send any of you without him," Tseng replied without flinching. "He will want to be involved and it would be better if he were to at least know and be given a choice."

Cloud wanted to know what exactly they suspected were at these labs or lab when Vincent spoke again, squeezing Cloud's knee in a gesture to silence him. "Where's Rude?"

"We were attacked by the remaining Remanats," Rufus replied to that query. "As we were returning from Rocket town."

"Loz and Yazoo," Cloud said in surprise. "I thought you killed them…"

"So did we," Reno replied from the doorway and Cloud could hear his disgust. "But they ambushed us when we landed for a refuelling stop."

"Still asking for mother?" Cloud wanted to know.

"No, much more co-ordinated attack," Rufus replied. "It was almost as if they wanted to see how strong we were."

"Are you sure you don't have anything they need?" Cloud asked, not willing to let it go. "Not hiding anything in your lap are you?" He was referring to the previous incident when Rufus had a part of Jenova in a box on his lap but the moment the words left his mouth, he realised that it was probably not the best way of wording it. His fears were confirmed when Reno snorted derisively from his position and even Tseng looked faintly amused. Cloud blushed red, and was about to sink back into his seat when Yuffie saved him by making a timely inquiry about just how injured Rude was.

"He'll live," Rufus replied dismissively. "But it goes to show we need people who are more … physically assertive."

Cloud could see Cid look around, chewing his unlit cigarette thoughtfully. "You want to go to these places on an air-ship," he stated. "Like we did before, load the equipment and the people and move from place to place."

"Yes," Rufus nodded, not looking at all pleased the meeting was getting out of control. "But…"

"Even if we make one day stops there are about ten different locations to search and that is going to take some time," he pointed out.

"We split into teams," Rufus continued. "Go to all the lab locations starting from the bottom, working our way up. That way, even if they are unoccupied there will be no way of them being used in the future."

"Wait a minute," said Cid, obviously latching on to something. "Us?"

"I will be accompanying you." In the midst of protests from both sides, Cloud dismissed the thought that Rufus was up to something nefarious while they were out of the way. Rufus was going to accompany them and stab them from behind while they were missions, either figuratively or literally.

"Who's running the company in your absence?" Vincent asked, his hand still resting on Cloud's thigh, almost as if he had forgotten it was there. His thumb moved restlessly, either an indication he was distracted or he really enjoyed the feel of Cloud squirming discreetly.

"I will be running the company from the mobile air base," Rufus replied firmly. "I'll be much safer moving around than in one place."

"And this sounds like a perfectly feasible plan because …" Cloud said dryly. "The answer is no."

"Just like that," Rufus asked dryly, not at all shaken by the abrupt refusal.

"I will go alone or with a few of my friends," Cloud spat out forcefully. "I refuse to travel around the world with a group of Turks and … you …" He pointed at Rufus before putting his hand down over Vincent's … forcing it off his thigh almost accidentally. Cloud knew Vincent had kept his hand there to prevent Cloud from making such an outburst but he really couldn't help it. The hand was far too distracting and really, Vincent should stop giving other people ideas.

"I was not suggesting you be accompanied by the entire department,' Rufus said smoothly. "I was thinking of just me …"

"And two other Turks," Tseng interrupted.

"One," Tifa spoke up suddenly making Cloud snap his head around in surprise.

"What," he started to say but she dismissed him with a glance. "Just Rufus and one other Turk as his bodyguard. We do not take your air base, we either go on Shera or the Highwind," Tifa said clearly. "And you do not dictate where we go and what we do."

"Tifa," Cloud started to say but Tifa turned on him and it took all his willpower not to flinch.

"Don't you get it Cloud," she said impatiently. "We have to take out those labs … you can't do it alone, you need our help even if its' just because a larger number of people will mean we can split into parties and search several locations at once."

"But Rufus…" Cloud started then stopped as Vincent's hand returned to its previous place. This time the hand was higher up on his thigh and he gasped at the sensation of having so intimate a touch in public.

"We can't go blowing up ShinRa property like we did last time," Tifa replied for all of them. "With him accompanying us, we have permission."

"Hate to point this out," Cid spoke softly. "But he can just give the go ahead from here. He doesn't have to come with us."

"He's safer with us than here," Vincent replied in his low gravely tone as he turned towards Tseng. "How many attacks has there been since last month on Rufus' life?" He asked.

Tseng coloured slightly at that but met Vincent's gaze squarely over Cloud's head. "Five," he said. "Only three of them were from professionals and…"

"We don't need to… "Rufus started to reply.

"We do," Reeve countered with a grimace. "I'll stay here and help out with the running of the day to day operations."

"Aren't you tied up with your own little pet project," Rufus sneered at Reeve, to which the other man shrugged.

"I am in charge of urban reconstruction and WRO is …"

Cloud felt as if he had jumped in the deep end. Most of the conversation was over his head as if he was only catching snatches of some on going soap opera and he really did not want to get involved in it. However, he knew Tifa was willing to help and he could not overlook a threat of mad scientists running around releasing more like Kadaj and the gang on innocent civilians. Additionally, he wanted to kill the remnants and get it over with – the thought of those silver haired punks riding around causing mayhem was not something he was comfortable with.

He could not be everywhere all the time and the thought of Tifa having to deal with them alone, again, made his blood freeze.

"Who's the Turk who is coming with us?" he asked.

"Tseng can accompany me," Rufus said decisively, not at all surprised Cloud had agreed to the arrangement.

"I am sorry sir but I must remain here," Tseng replied respectfully. "I think Reno is more suitable for the job, he is more active in the field than I am."

Cloud looked over his shoulder at Reno who was smirking in a self satisfied way and rolled his eyes. This was turning out to be a nightmare.

A/N

first of all, this chapter is a plot filler – I need it but after not writing for sometime, I had to force it out. Anyway, the next few chapter should pick up on the pace and action … I hope.


	10. Chapter 10

Thank you for the reviews everyone. I'm sorry if I did not reply to each and everyone personally. I do enjoy receiving them.

Part 10

By the time everyone had gotten their maps out and their route somewhat plotted – barring monsters, detours, and unexpected catastrophes, Vincent could hear Cloud's stomach rumbling loudly. Apparently, he was not the only one who could hear it.

"I forgot all about the Solider metabolism," Rufus said, looking up over a particularly tricky map which showed air current and pressure over Cosmos Canyon. "Tseng…"

The Turk stood up smoothly and walked to the door, probably to inform the secretary to order food for them. Vincent assumed he also wanted to check up on a few things away from prying eyes; otherwise Tseng could very well have used the phone to call up for food from within the conference room.

"Excuse me," Vincent said getting to his feet, holding onto the back of his chair slightly longer than necessary, just in case the sudden dizziness returned. He knew just how observant everyone present was, friends and uneasy allies alike and he did not want anyone to see any weakness in him. From a corner of his eye, Vincent saw Cloud start to get up as well and laid a hand on the blond's shoulder, pressing him back into the chair firmly.

Cloud looked up at him and for a moment Vincent stopped, looking straight down into the luminous blue eyes full of concern and puzzlement. He shook his head a little and Cloud nodded, sitting back but Vincent knew he would probably have to answer a few questions later. He also knew no one at the table could have missed the interaction unless they were all deaf, dumb and mentally retarded. He missed being around normal people once in a while.

Vincent caught up with Tseng just outside the doorway, about to speak to the secretary who was eyeing the Turk with a mixture of awe and fear.

"What is it?" Tseng asked even as he signalled Vincent to follow him out of the secretary's hearing range.

"When Reno came to visit me he showed me a photo of a guy with wings," Vincent stated without missing a beat. "We might run across this person in our world tour and I do not like surprises."

"You want me to tell the group about it?" Tseng stated.

"I do not want to reveal my source and the circumstances under which I learnt of it." Vincent replied. "I'd rather Strife does not hear of your little blackmailing attempt." He was surprised at how quickly he slipped into Turk-mode, referring to Cloud as if he was just a passing acquaintance. Vincent decided not to examine why he thought of Cloud as something more – it was a dilemma he preferred to brood on in his own time.

Tseng inclined his head in agreement. "I suppose it'd better if you went in knowing what the odds are," he said somewhat reluctantly. "Very well, I'll bring it up now."

Vincent walked back in and sat down in his place ignoring Cloud who was giving him odd looks. "I will fill you in later," Vincent replied to the unspoken question as he settled back into the chair, then waited for the Head of the Turks to come and update everyone the rest of the information.

He was not disappointed when Tseng entered the conference room after couple of minutes outside, and then opened the discussion of a sighting of an unknown winged man with all the subtlety his station was due. Half way through the description Reno gave up all pretence of keeping watch at the door and slunk into the room, leaning fully against the doorframe.

Vincent watched Rufus look up in annoyance though Reno ignored that for a confirmation from Tseng. Realistically, the room was full of people with super human reflexes, hearing and strength. If someone made it past the door into the room, they were all capable of protecting themselves in an instant. Still, having Turks outside the conference door was a matter of protocol and really, Vincent would never have dared to do something so blatantly offensive to his boss in his day.

"Put up a wanted poster," Red suddenly said and everyone looked at him in surprise.

"What?" asked Rufus looking slightly stunned by the suggestion.

"I suppose you have a list of possibilities as to who this person is?" Red said dryly. "Unless Shinra is in the habit of losing their prized science experiments – which I assume happens all too often." He shrugged. "Still, you can at least eliminate a few by circulating photos of known people who can possible sprout wings to the locals."

"How long does it take to grow wings?" Cloud asked aloud, probably thinking of himself as well as other things. "Do you think the remnants could have grown wings by now?"

"We do not think it to be a remnant," Rufus admitted somewhat reluctantly. "At least, our scientists who analysed the data do not think so. We have a missing First."

"As in a first class SOLIDER," Tifa asked though she seemed to be more amused than anything else.

"Mad, bent on talking over the world?" Yuffie quipped dryly.

"Well..." Tseng looked uncomfortable, as if unwilling to confirm anything.

"Aren't they all," Cloud said sounding almost pensive. "Who is he?"

"Has to be Genesis Rhapsodos, the only person whose body was not recovered," Tseng replied. "We realised the description also applies to Sephiroth but analysis of the photo shows the wing structure to be different from his."

"Nice to know," Cid replied dryly. "Not everyone returns from the dead. So, as Red here was saying what did this guy look like?"

"From what I know, he was a demon dressed in red, covered in blood and read a lot of secret mumbo-jumbo," Yuffie quipped in. When everyone looked at her in surprise she shrugged. "We of Wutai have long memories of those who invade our homes," she stated, trying to sound mystic but to Vincent she simply sounded constipated.

"He was not a demon dressed in red," Tseng sounded affronted.

"I think you just described Vincent," Reno mumbled, just low enough that only those with enhanced hearing could hear.

"We have some old archival holos of him," Rufus said reaching for the computer screen. "I think he was before most of your time but really he was hard to forget." Cloud snorted at that and crossed in hands across his chest as if to prove it was possible to forget anything, making Cid twitch in response. "Ah," said Rufus in satisfaction. "Here," and called up a 3D-holo which fizzled once before coming into focus.

Everyone as one focused on the four man group which represented ShinRa's glorious past. Sephiroth stood to a side, looking like he always did, tall and deadly though his lips were turned up in a small smile and his posture looked more relaxed. Next to him stood a dark haired, square faced man, looking down in amusement at a younger version of Zack who was sitting at his feet, almost leaning against his leg, looking up at his mentor, oblivious to the photo being taken. The red head of the group was the only one who was purposefully posing for the photo, head tilted back, body slightly turned to catch the light.

"The Firsts," Rufus said softly. "They were the best of the best we had…" He thought for a moment. "And Zack."

"Why didn't anyone tell me," Cloud said softly.

"Tell you what?" Tifa asked suddenly, sounding worried.

"When I claimed to be a First class SOLIDER, you must have know that ShinRa did not churn out firsts by the batch like they did chocobos and there must have been some record of me," he said sounding pissed off. "You must have known the moment you ran into me," he added accusingly to Rufus as if it was all his fault.

"I might have not known you," Rufus replied diplomatically. "But any doubt I had was gone when I saw you swing your sword and anyway…" he nodded towards the holo. "… I recognized that sword you had."

Cloud looked at the holo almost unwillingly and then looked down at the table. "He was Angeal Hewley wasn't he," he said softly. "I couldn't remember Zack let along the person who originally …"

"I really don't know what the hype about these Firsts are, really," Reno said obnoxiously making everyone jump.

"Reno," said Tseng warningly.

"I mean, really," Reno continued with a shrug of his shoulder. "Look at Sephiroth, I guess what they say about him is true, that he was so busy getting laid he didn't have time to put his shirt on."

Yuffie for some reason seemed to find that hilarious but everyone froze as if unsure to laugh or yell.

"They say he wore his coat to hide his bare legs when he didn't have time to put on his pants," Reno continued. "And Angeal's pet peeve was dressing Zack in his clothes that had shrunk in the washer and …"

"Actually that is the standard uniform for …" Rufus started to say coldly.

"And this Genesis guy, doesn't he know he should not wear red. He's a red head for crying out and no fashion sense at all…"

"I suppose you have a better suggestion," Reeve said looking distinctly amused.

"Why blue of course," Reno said sounding smug, then looked at everyone smirking. "Well, I think the food's here. Let me instruct Jenny to bring it in."

Vincent tucked his chin in his mantel, smiling slightly; he did not always like Reno but he constantly gave the Turk points for creativity. At least now no one was in any danger of being distracted from the mission by excessive brooding.

"You know," Cid remarked off handedly. "This Genesis guy reminds me of the guy who sat next to me when I went to watch Loveless once. [1] Fell asleep during the show and he poked me awake when I started snoring …"

"Oh, yeah, food," Yuffie shirked standing up and even Nanaki sat up, tail moving in circles and everyone relaxed imperceptibly.

--- --- ---- ---

Cloud caught up with Vincent as the turn of the corridor outside their rooms. Vincent's face was expressionless as always but his eyes flicked to the side quickly before he opened the door to their shared room and inclined his head in a silent invitation.

The room Rufus had assigned to them was spacious, with two large beds on either side of a low table. However, looking at it reminded Cloud of expensive hotel rooms, beautifully decorated but lacking a personal touch. His eyes strayed to the open window with the fluttering curtains and then back at Vincent who was hovering in the middle of the room looking impatient.

"What is it?' Vincent asked after cloud had closed the door and leaned against it.

"Why are you going to meet the woman?" Cloud snapped unable to form the question more politely. He had, after all been gnawing at that problem the entire day and he could not for the world of it figure of why Vincent wanted to go see her unless it was for an ulterior motive. Motives which Cloud did not really feel comfortable with. In his opinion it was all very well that Vincent was taking an interest in the opposite sex but really did it have to be another female scientist on ShinRa payroll?

"I suppose you are referring to Ms Wilde," Vincent said in his deadpanned voice. Cloud could feel frustration rise in him at that. He had never been good at reading Vincent's moods and this was no exception.

"She's a scientist and you know what we are to them," Cloud said savagely. "To them we are just experimental data."

Vincent did not reply.

"Why her?" Cloud persisted. "Vincent, stay away from Dr. Wilde at least until you can find out more about her."

"You seem overly concerned about my wellbeing," Vincent finally stated in his low monotonous tone.

"I'm concerned with everyone's wellbeing," Cloud snarled back defensively. He knew Vincent was his friend, for Vincent to say something that belittled that so much was annoying. He did not add, 'especially you' since it seemed inappropriate. "But you know what its' like to be experimented on, you know we can't trust them." Cloud knew he was stating the obvious.

"Cloud," Vincent said patiently. "I do have. .." he searched for the proper words.

"Needs," Cloud supplied. As in _sexual_, he thought.

"A right to know about the nature of the experiments carried out on me," Vincent finally said, looking somewhat embarrassed.

"Oh," said Cloud stumped. He had been sure Vincent was interested in that woman in a romantic way and now all he felt was relief. So Vincent didn't like her in that way, which was good. He just probably had a question about his monsters that required him to overcome his aversion of ShinRa scientists and seek their... Wait, what… "What exactly is …" He almost jumped when someone knocked on the room door.

"Cloud," Tifa called from the other side. "Are you there?"

Cloud looked over his shoulder at the door then back towards the middle of the room. "What do you mean the nature of experiments?" But of course he was talking to thin air. He gave the open window, where a bright curtain snapped in the wind a scowl then opened the door. Tifa stood in the corridor, her hands on her hips, Cloud's spare travelling bag across her back, looking pissed.

"Did you really think you could avoid me by disappearing once the meeting was over?" she said as she pushed passed him into the room and looked around. "Where's Vincent?"

Cloud nodded towards the window and Tifa walked over to it and looked out. "It's a twenty story drop, with no ledge," she said after peering outside.

"He'll be fine," Cloud said, knowing very well Tifa was aware that Vincent was able to navigate a vertical wall easily.

"Good, since it's you I wanted to talk to," said Tifa as she threw his bag at him. Cloud caught it reflexively and looked up inquiringly.

"I brought you some spare clothes," Tifa gave a once over, as if taking in Cloud's mismatched borrowed clothes. "I see you need them."

"The dress just wasn't my colour," he said more to keep her occupied than anything else.

"I was thinking a bow in your hair might have sorted it out," Tifa deadpanned. "So, what happened?"

"If I really want you to know, I'll tell you," Cloud countered rudely. He knew he was being an asshole but really, he did not want to get into that.

Tifa did not even blink at his reply, having gotten used to it. "Does this have anything to do with Vincent?"

"He just bailed me out of a tight spot," Cloud said evasively.

"If you say so," Tifa said letting her arms drop. "I'm heading back down under to check on the kids. How long are you going to say here?"

Cloud blinked at her quick acceptance of his lack of explanation and for a moment tried to focus on the question at hand. "I need to sort out the payment details and all," he said casually. "I'll come down to visit you as soon as this is settled."

"The kids miss you," Tifa said with a look that said, _stand them up and I'll kill you_. "Plus, Barrett will be coming today – I'll have to update him on the mission and you know he likes it when you drink with him."

"Will he be accompanying us?" Cloud asked knowing just how much the large man disliked Rufus and anything associated with ShinRa.

"He'll come," Tifa said with a small smile. "He won't trust anyone else to look after us."

"It'll be good," Cloud said before he could help himself. "Everyone together – just like old times."

Tifa did not look shocked or laugh away his words as he expected her to. "I don't really miss sleeping in tents but I could use a break from scrubbing the floor and serving drinks."

Cloud smiled a little. "What about the kids?"

"They'll be fine with Elmyra," Tifa said after some thought. "So, aren't you going to change into your clothes?"

Cloud looked at the bag in his grip and then at his friend. "Is it another dress?" He then opened the bag just to make sure. It was not. "Thanks," he said. "I think I'll change once you've gone."

"It's not like you have something I haven't seen," Tifa said, her eyes shinning with glee. "After all, in Mideel, I did bath you and change your …"

"Shouldn't you get going," Cloud interrupted hastily. "It'll be dark soon and you'll miss the train if that happens."

"I'm been offered transport by ShinRa," Tifa rolled her eyes. "They'll wait for me."

"Who else is going with you?"

"I'm taking Yuffie and Red to stay with us," Tifa replied. "Cid is staying here overnight since Shera is here to look at the plans for the new spaceship."

"He wasn't too pleased to find out she's been in touch with ShinRa behind his back," Cloud said dryly remembering the moment.

"You know she did it for him, he loves the space program no matter what he says."

"I know," Cloud agreed wondering what it would be like to have someone who was so devoted to you that person knew exactly was needed. Then he frowned. That was something new. "Why don't we sit down then," he said, relaxing now that Tifa was not going to bring up his incident. He knew she was clever enough to wait for the right moment. It was not as if she had forgotten it or anything, she was just holding back since she knew he did not want to talk about it. "What do you think of what Rufus' speech?"

"Do you think the rooms are bugged?" Tifa asked as she walked towards the bed.

"I won't put that past them," Cloud agreed as he walked with her. He shrugged. "Who cares, it's not like we're plotting overthrow them…"

"Or blow up their reactors," Tifa chipped in with an evil grin.

"Don't even think about it," Cloud said though he could not help his lips twitching at the thought of some Turk operative listening on their conversation in growing horror.

"Well," said Tifa as she sat on one of the beds. "I can understand why you don't want to talk about your incident in a place like this…"

"I will tell you about it someday," Cloud told her. "You know I don't have any secrets from you – just , not now."

"Will you ask Vincent to come as well when you come to the bar?" Tifa asked changing the subject.

"Sure," Cloud nodded, afraid to ask why. He wondered if Tifa was planning on grilling Vincent about the incident since she knew Cloud was not likely to speak of it.

"It's better if he stays with us rather than here," she said with a shrug. "I don't like Rufus, considering the first few times I saw him he was either trying to kill us or publicly execute us and I don't have any good memories in this building so to speak."

"I know what you mean," Cloud agreed. "Sure, I'll bring him alone – tomorrow."

"I'll feel much better when you're out of this place," Tifa said. She shook herself as if clearing her mind. "So, back to the question at hand – what do you think is happening?"

"Is there any chance of me persuading you to stay at home with the kids?" he asked.

"About as much chance as you growing any taller," Tifa snapped back and Cloud wisely shut up.

[1] This is part of the game. No, Cid does not specifically mention Genesis but does mention he went to the play and fell asleep next to a guy who wakes him up before the last act. I found that hilarious … oh, well, so I find odd things funny.


	11. Chapter 11

Part 11

Vincent landed on the window sill silently, and crouched there looking inside. The office he was looking into was dark, blinds open but the glass pane tightly shut. And the alarm seemed to be armed. He looked at the thin wire closely, rolled his eyes and disconnected the alarm in a single gesture – then waited.

He did not have to wait for longer than fifteen seconds when Tseng strolled into the office, looking relaxed to anyone who was not a Turk. Vincent waited until the window was open before slipping into the room carefully. He waited until Tseng had re-connected the alarm before turning to face Vincent. Vincent mentally gave the man points for turning his back to him though he knew Tseng owed him for saving his and Elena's lives when they were kidnapped by the remnants. Tseng was also aware Vincent could have entered the building without alerting anyone – he had simply thought it more courteous to let the Turk know he was in.

They stood in the semi-darkness of the office until Tseng smiled softly, definitely not a mocking smile but one that conveyed his amusement. "Let me switch on the light," he said softly. "Not all of us are gifted with excellent night vision."

Vincent shrugged silently as the Turk walked to the wall and switched on the light. He knew his clothes helped him blend into the shadows and Tseng wanted to read his body language closely – hence the request for more illumination. Additionally, no matter how good Tseng was, he was only human and did not have Vincent's enhanced eyesight as he had admitted.

"What do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Tseng asked as he perched himself on the corner of the table, looking calm. Vincent was not fooled. Had Tseng been fully relaxed he would have sat down behind the table, on the executive chair creating a position of power, but right now he was uneasy about Vincent – enough not to trap himself in a position where his movements would be restricted.

"How did you trap Strife?" Vincent asked softly.

"If I tell you that, will you tell me why you need Dr. Wilde's expertise?" Tseng countered.

Vincent snarled in frustration. Stalemate. At least Tseng had not denied that they had trapped Cloud. The plan was far too good – Vincent had realised at the briefing table, the maps had been there, the ship had been ready, Rufus had enough food to feed an army, all packed and ready for transport. Hell, even the rooms they were allocated to were aired and waiting – all it had needed to was the people. While there could have a simple explanation for all these things, Vincent knew everything added up to one thing. They – AVALANCHE, had been the final ingredient to a well thought out recipe for ... something.

Perhaps Rufus was honest and he just wanted to stop the remnants and clean up his father's legacy. He had smelled honest when he had spoken and no one, Nanaki or any of the others had cried foul when Rufus had given them the speech about blowing up the labs and they were all very good at catching liars. Still, from ShinRa's point of view, everything was falling into place far too nicely for this to have been a sudden occurrence.

"You have everything you need to clean up the labs and clear up ShinRa's name apart from manpower," Vincent said softly, speaking more for his benefit than Tseng's. "You also want the right muscles, the type that would not go around spearheading rumours about what they see in the labs. No matter how competent, troops and hired guns talk. Hence us - discreet, pros at this sort of thing and most importantly are emotionally tied to the whole mess that we would have done this for free."

He stopped at looked at Tseng who did not interrupt. He nodded instead and seemed to be waiting in expectation of what Vincent would say. Vincent did not like that. He did not normally talk much but he needed to make his point clear.

"But you had a problem," Vincent continued. "There was no way we would have worked for you – hence the plan to blackmail one of us into this. It had to be someone everyone else would follow, someone whom by agreeing to work with you would automatically rope in everyone else. It had to be Strife and no one else."

"You have this all figured out," Tseng said finally. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, you couldn't get dirt on Strife," Vincent forced out, careful not to let his anger show. "So you created it – and I'm curious to know how. I saw that girl, there was nothing special about her and if Strife wanted sex he could have gotten it from anyone else."

Tseng shrugged and stood up as well. "Why the sudden curiosity?" he asked.

"It's not sudden," Vincent said softly. "Just making sure it will not be repeated. You need Strife in working order to complete this mission." And he did not need to see Cloud looking tortured as he stood over another maimed female. No matter how good his impersonation of a block of granite was, Strife was all heart underneath and it came through more often than not.

"We know Strife is not the most stable person around," Tseng said and when Vincent looked up sharply he was rewarded with a sardonic look. So Tseng was bating him to see just how attached Vincent was to Cloud – oh, how very Turk like.

"That means you do not fracture that fragile mentality," Vincent said injecting a touch of sarcasm. Two can play that game.

"Anything else?" Tseng asked looking bored.

Vincent took a step forward. Not much but a clear step forward and saw a slight twitching of that implacable face. "Is there anything else you are holding back from us?"

"Why would I do that to our allies?" Tseng asked.

Another step forward. "That does not answer the question," he said. "For Rufus to come with us, he is expecting to find something in the labs isn't he?"

"I was under the impression it was to keep him safe from attacks," Tseng said with a touch of defiance.

Vincent moved so fast he knew the human eye could not follow his body until he came to a stop just in front of Tseng's. To give him credit, the Turk did not flinch though it was a close thing. "I have been playing this game since before you were born," Vincent said carefully, speaking slowly so his words would not be misinterpreted. "Do not push me – I am familiar with all these little mind games."

"I'll keep that in mind," Tseng said looking Vincent straight in the eye. Not many people could do that and though the Turk was the first to look away, Vincent could not help being pleased. This man would do well as a Turk. Vincent nodded then turned away. He walked to the window he had entered the room through and was about to leave when he heard Tseng approach him from behind. He did not turn but paused wondering what was about to happen. To his surprise, Tseng grasped his forearm and turned him around.

Vincent looked over his shoulder, more startled than he would like to admit. Not many people touched him with that level of familiarly – and realised something. By saving Tseng's and Elena's lives he had become someone Tseng owed a life debt to – and someone he was not scared of dying for – or by. "You can still come back to your old job," he said.

Vincent snorted in amusement as he shook his head. "No, I think not," he said as he slid through the window, taking care not to touch the sides. Let Tseng worry about the alarm, though Vincent did not think he had trigged it on his way out.

Once out, Vincent navigated the wall with ease, making his way back to the room he and Cloud had been given. As he scaled the wall, he wondered just how much of the monsters within him he utilized without even realising it.

"_You mean you only thought of it now_," an amused voice said in his head. Vincent snorted as he ignored Chaos in favour of concentrating on climbing. He would not have been able to climb a wall in this manner had he been human. His eye sight would not have been this good and though he had been an accurate marksman as a Turk, now he surpassed any and every human measure of precision. As he reached the final ledge, Vincent paused, gathering his body for the final leap to the window ledge of their shared room. He sprang up like a cat, twisting his body and at the last second, extended his claws to get a better grip of the sill. He heaved his body inside silently, glad that Cloud had been thoughtful enough to leave the window open. As his feet hit the floor soundlessly, a wave of dizziness swept over him and for a moment Vincent was sure he was going to throw up.

Taking a deep breath, he stood still until the room stopped wavering and all that was left was a bitter after taste in his mouth. Scowling, he looked around, glad that Cloud was fast asleep in his bed. He would have to speak to Dr. Wilde soon enough to figure out what was wrong with him and sooner he did it the better in his opinion.

* * *

Cloud opened his eyes to discover he was lying on his back on a soft mattress of grass, and his surroundings were doused with the distinct green overcast which meant he was in the Lifestream. He relaxed as he lifted his head; He was dressed in his clothes but he did not have his sword and his boots were nowhere to be seen. He did not think he was in this place accidentally unless he had died in his sleep and he was not counting on that.

Not with the giggling.

He turned his head towards the sound and was rewarded with Aerith standing a couple of feet away from him, holding on to a basket with both hands. It was such a surreal sight that he stood up, brushing his clothes, looking around carefully. As usual, the green meadow seemed to go on forever though he could not focus on any solid landmarks in the distance. He walked up to Aerith slowly and stopped when he was two feet away from her, smiling slightly.

"You look well," he said softly.

"So do you," she said with a pleased smile. There was a small silence while Cloud searched for something to say.

"What's in the basket?"

"A baby." That stopped him.

"What – you … you and Zack …" Cloud spluttered in genuine surprise. He did not know if it was possible to make children in the lifestream or how much time had passed between the times he had seen his friends. There were so many questions he needed to ask but did not know where to start.

"No silly," Aerith looked as if she was enjoying herself. "It's –" she appeared thoughtful. "… complicated."

"So," said Cloud looking around carefully. "Where's Zack?"

"Oh, him," said Aerith and there was a mischievous gleam in her eye which made Cloud weary. She looked around, put her fingers into her mouth and whistled loudly. The basket jerked and a small wail broke out making Aertih look down guilty. "Oh, I forgot," she said as she placed the basket down carefully and pulled back the gossamer netting she had covered it with. "Shhhh," she said as she looked inside. "There, there, don't cry."

Curious, Cloud took a step forward only to stop when something small, running at full speed collided with his foot. Cloud froze and looked down, unable to comprehend what had run into him. He seemed to have been ambushed by a small ball of shaggy fur. He blinked and looked up at Aertih who was grinning at him as if enjoying a private joke. He looked at the object at his feet again. The object looked up, transforming from a black carpet into a small pup with a tangle of gravity defying black fur. It had large, liquid eyes and a small black button nose completing the picture of utter cuteness.

"Er," said Cloud.

"Cloud, meet Zack," Aerith said laughing openly now.

"You turned him into a dog," Cloud asked incomprehensibly. Aertih seemed to find it all too hilarious and Cloud swore he was going to strangle her if she did not stop laughing and explain to him the situation.

"This is Zack, just not Zack," she said. "At least the right one."

"So," said Cloud searching for the correct phrase. "One is Zack and the other is Zack the dog –" he looked at it closely "--puppy." The puppy decided it was a good time to sit down and lick its' privates and Cloud hastily looked away since it seemed very wrong.

Aerith shook her head. "Nope, that doesn't work either," she said finally. "They're just too similar."

"Just tell me what's going on," Cloud said finally.

"It's hard really," she said sitting down next to the basket, looking serious. "Let me try – that's why I brought you here anyway."

Cloud sat on the grass slowly and folded his legs under him. The puppy took it as an invitation to scramble onto his lap and settle down. Cloud automatically scratched its' head as he waited for his friend to speak.

"Well," she said finally. "Take the puppy for example," she said. "It died and was merged with the lifestream – and Zack fished him out because he was feeling impulsive. It's just not allowed and I will have to put it back soon." She looked at Cloud and smiled. "So it can be reborn into the Planet," she added. "Sometimes when people die, if their will is strong enough, they don't merge with the lifestream straightaway, they drift about. Or become more – like me and … a few other people"

"Like Sephiroth," Cloud nodded.

"Yes," Aerith agreed. "And sometimes when people die, they are received into the lifestream by someone who has preceded them – a person special to them." She paused, seemed to gather herself and continued. "When Zack died, I was alive so – someone else was waiting for him. Someone who meant a lot to him." Cloud tensed and his hand stilled but he did not speak. "Zack is off with him now, looking at a shift in the …" she shook her head. "Anyway, when you welcome a new soul to the lifestream, you sometimes bond with them," she said as she put her hand inside the basket and picked up the baby.

Cloud froze, almost standing up. Only the presence of the puppy stopped him from doing that. The baby was small, tiny really with a head of silver white hair. He could not see its' – his – he was sure the baby was male – eye colour but he did not need to look. "Kadaj," he said.

"I have no idea how old he was in the real world but this is the age he reverted to," Aerith said. "Thinks I'm his mother."

"Are you going to toss him back to the lifestream," Cloud inquired coldly. He really did not want to know why Kadaj thought Aerith was his mother.

"No," Aerith said. "Not yet. He does not seem to know what he is. He's confused, lonely and scared."

Cloud looked at her and then at the baby – Kadaj and scowled. "You expect me to believe that," he said finally.

"What happened to you was not your fault and neither was it Sephiroth's," Aerith said meeting his eyes squarely. "You were all manipulated – even the remnants. You have to understand they are just children, forced to grow up before their times and changed into something they are not." Her eyes shone with unshed tears. "You have to help them."

"Help them join the lifestream," Cloud stated. He really did not owe those misfits anything.

"Just help them," Aertih said though she did not seem very happy with his reply and Cloud closed his mouth, unwilling to make her sad.

"You spoke about this before. Are you telling me that I will be running into the remnants soon?"

She shrugged wordlessly. "I don't think time has much meaning for me," she said sounding slightly puzzled. "You have to go back soon, Cloud. You have been here long enough."

"Wait," said Cloud a thousand questions coming to mind. "I want to ask …" and woke up in his bed, hand outstretched gasping.

He sat there for a moment slowly before turning his head slowly. He had taken the bed closer to the door, knowing Vincent's penchant for windows, even though he was not sure if the older man would return to the room. As his eyes adjusted to the low light, Cloud looked around slowly, running a hand through his hair sleepily.

Vincent had returned sometime during the night and though he was startled that he had not heard Vincent's return Cloud was not overly worried. Vincent moved quietly when needed and Cloud was familiar enough with his presence not to be jerked awake. He sat on his bed watching Vincent sit on his, fully clothed, including his boots, cleaning his gun efficiently. Cloud observed the careful actions of his room mate for a while until Vincent spoke softly.

"Nightmare?"

"No," said Cloud equally softly. "Nothing like that." He rested his head on his drawn up knees.

"It is perfectly normal for someone of your age to have – dreams of other natures …" Vincent offered.

Cloud froze, his mind deciphering the words and … "No!" he said in protest. "It was not a wet dream." He looked at Vincent and was rewarded with a pointed gaze, almost probing. Not at all teasing, it was as if Vincent was searching for something inside of him. "What is it?" he demanded. Then he frowned. "I'm not some maniac – or some sex addict," he added.

Vincent calmly turned back to his guns and Cloud was left feeling bereft. He slid off the bed and padded on bare feet to Vincent. "I'm not sure what you think but Vincent you've known me for so long and the only time I've done something out of ordinary is when I was being controlled by someone else."

"I know," said Vincent simply. "That's what worries me."

A/n – thank you for the reviews. I do appreciate them. Which brings me to the question, does Hojo have a first name


	12. Chapter 12

Part 12

By the time Vincent and Cloud set off to Seventh Heaven, it was mid-morning and the fog had cleared in the lower levels. As they walked side by side, Cloud observed Vincent looking around, taking in the buildings and the décor with the air of someone who had not seen a town in a while.

"You know, you should drop by more often," he said casually to Vincent who looked slightly amused by the way people move out of their path automatically as they walked past.

"I should," Vincent agreed in his deep voice and Cloud wondered just what sort of a statement that was. The gunman had never been one to speak in long sentences but that morning, the silence was deafening and pointed.

Cloud knew Vincent was a little annoyed at his effort to keep Vincent within his sight the entire morning. Simply put, Cloud had been worried that Vincent might sneak into the ShinRa lab to find Dr. (bitch) Wilde and he was even more worried as to what she might do to Vincent. Therefore, he had made excuses to stay behind after breakfast, served compliment of ShinRa's best chefs, until Vincent had realised Cloud would hound his steps the entire day. Eventually Vincent had given up on meeting Dr. Wilde and had reluctantly agreed to accompany Cloud to Seventh Heaven.

"So, why don't you?" Cloud asked, feeling surprised at himself for trying to start a conversation. He was usually taciturn though Vincent did always make him feel garrulous in contrast. However, what bothered him was the strained silence between them and the feeling that Vincent was not happy with his interference. While Cloud considered everyone in AVALANCHE his friends, he felt especially close to Vincent, since the dark haired man knew when Cloud wanted to be left alone. They both shared a common bond of having experienced Hojo's science first hand. Vincent sighed, then looked away as if unwilling to answer the question and Cloud decided to keep his mouth shut. After all, it was hardly his place to ask about Vincent's self-imposed isolation when he was not any better.

Just as Cloud gave up on receiving an answer, Vincent spoke. "Do you think I enjoy seeing people flinch every time they look at me," he said softly.

Cloud knew that with a change of wardrobe, and a pair of shades, perhaps, Vincent could pass for something close to human though it would not pass close inspection. There was something subtly wrong about Vincent which people noticed, even if they did not know how to word it. There was something inhuman in the fluidity of his movements, the aura of darkness that seemed to cling to him – all of which Cloud knew Vincent did not even bother to hide. He understood it at one level. After all, Cloud never hid his mako bright eyes or downplayed his strength. It was not as if he was ashamed of what had been done to him in the labs – he supposed Vincent felt the same way.

"Do you think Tifa would ever throw you out if you come to the bar," Cloud said instead. "You could drop in for a drink you know;" there he was officially channelling Tifa who always said the same thing to Cloud. Vincent as if reading Cloud's mind snorted in amusement. Cloud opened his mouth to counteract it when his stomach growled in hunger, the breakfast Rufus had so generously send up to their room been long over.

Vincent managed to look at Cloud with one eye-brow raised, probably wondering where he had put all the food away when his stance changed. It was not very obvious but Cloud reached for the hilt of his sword strapped across his back but Vincent shook his head imperceptibly. "You can come out now," he growled softly.

There was a five second pause and Reno stepped out of the shadows looking as he always did, rumpled suit, bright red hair standing straight and shades on his forehead. What Cloud found perplexing was how Vincent had known Reno was there in the first place.

"How do you always do that?" Reno asked looking more amused than annoyed at being called out, as he strolled forward to join them. "I had a bet you wouldn't know I was behind you for at least another two blocks."

Vincent shrugged and turned away as if answering such a question was not worth his time. As an ex-Turk, he had all the formal training needed to spot a hidden observer coupled with heightened senses; it was not something easily explained in a couple of sentences. Then again, Reno probably did not need an explanation.

"Why are you following us?" Cloud asked since it was obvious that Vincent was not going to ask the question. Perhaps the answer was obvious to Vincent but to Cloud, Reno's presence was pure annoyance.

"Perhaps you'd rather walk with us," Vincent suggested though it could only be interpreted as a suggestion in the loosest sense. Cloud had heard parade ground sergeants with less _suggestive_ voices ordering cadets about.

"Sure, why not," Reno said with a shrug as he shouldered his baton and grinned cheekily. "I think we're all going in the same direction, yo."

"I can arrange it to be otherwise," Vincent deadpanned and Reno stilled momentarily as if gauging whether that was a joke or not. He seemed to understand enough of the situation to keep his mouth shut and fall in step with the two of them.

Cloud growled in displeasure at the intrusion – he really did not appreciate the extra company. It was slightly annoying to be accompanied by a Turk; the message was clear enough, Rufus Shinra wanted them under surveillance either discreetly or otherwise. "I suppose Cait Sith is not suitable for this?" Cloud said with a scowl. At least Reeve was discreet and not overall annoying the way Reno was.

"I needed the drink," Reno said with a shrug. Then he looked at Cloud under his lashes and smiled slyly. "Plus, Reeve is too busy these days."

The look begged Cloud to ask what Reeve was busy with; Cloud looked away, years of keeping to himself helping him curb his curiosity. Vincent, who could not have possibly missed the brief conversation, acted as if it did not concern him. Or perhaps Vincent was privy to information about Reeve; after all the two f them had been working closely on a few projects from what Cloud could remember.

Cloud silently adjusted his sword and glared at the road, making a couple of pedestrians step aside in a hurry.

"You're scaring the civilians," Reno said in a sing-song voice. "I wish they'd shown this much respect to our troops."

Neither of them bothered to answer.

"Well," said Reno stretching the word slowly. "Tell you what, I'll catch up with you at the bar since you are heading that way." He gave them the sort of sly look which made Cloud grit his teeth. "After all, you two might as well enjoy your quality time together since you won't get much of that when we are on the road." Reno moved expertly, shifting his weight to his feet alternatively as he leapt off into the ally closest to them. Cloud wondered if it was worth following him then shook his head.

"I suppose ShinRa isn't satisfied with us agreeing to do their dirty work," Cloud said with a scowl.

"They always keep tabs on us," Vincent said shortly. "It could be worse, they could restrict our movements."

"They can try," Cloud snorted in amusement though he knew given the resources ShinRa had at its disposal and Rufus' intelligence, their lives could have been made more difficult. "They're not omnipotent."

"We know that," Vincent said with a frown. "I do wish you had let me speak to Dr. Wilde before we have left."

"Why?" Cloud snapped back shortly. It was not as if Vincent was stupid which lead to the question … "What do you need to know from her?"

"For a start, what her current research is," Vincent replied ignoring the bite in Cloud's voice. "Rufus does not keep someone of her calibre on the payroll so she can clone sheep. Additionally, there is the problem with -."

"There is nothing wrong with me," Cloud snapped hastily.

"That was not what I was about to say," Vincent said softly making Cloud blush at the tone. He had assumed Vincent was going to finish the sentence with 'you' but perhaps it had been something else.

"I meant …"

"Why do you think there is something is wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Cloud looked away. "It was just something I said out of reflex."

"But you are a soldier," Vincent pointed out. "You rely on your reflexes all the time. What made you think there was a problem with you?"

"Why are you persisting with this line of questioning?" Cloud asked slightly annoyed. He did not know why Vincent was being so – pushy but he found the red eyes fixed on him intently, a little unsettling. "Are you telling me I can't think?" he added as an after thought. Relying on his reflexes – really.

"Do you remember what happened that day?" Vincent asked instead, making Cloud scowl. Vincent had not questioned him of that incident since he was bailed out of jail, for which Cloud was immensely grateful. However, he did not wish to relive that horrible mistake for the sake of sating Vincent's' bizarre interrogative moods. Additionally, Vincent had yet to answer Cloud's question from before.

"Either you tell me why you want to know or you don't ask at all," Cloud said quietly. He trusted Vincent. He knew there had to be a good reason if Vincent was grilling him over it but the timing could not have been worse. "Why now and not when you bailed me out?"

Vincent did not reply straight away. Instead, he seemed to consider the question gravely as he lowered his face into the collar of his cloak concealing the lower half of his face. "Because you know your own strength." When Vincent spoke, his voice was soft and Cloud moved closer to listen. His nose picked up the smell of leather and gunpowder as well as "I've seen you pick up eggs, do fine tuning on your bike and play with the kids. You've never broken anything unless you intended to do so."

Cloud took a deep breath and though his face was a lovely shade of red spoke clearly. "I was not having sex with any of those things," he managed a wry smile. "Especially not with my bike, no matter what others suggest."

Vincent gave a half snort to show he had gotten the joke though he was not easily derailed from the topic. "How often do you have sex?"

"What sort of a question is that?" Cloud asked defensively before his brain had even processed the question. "Wait, you think what happened to me – the loss of control is sexual."

Vincent gave a half-shrug which he must have practiced in front of a mirror since it caused his cloak to ripple gracefully but did not reveal his thoughts.

"Vincent," Cloud said a carefully controlled voice, bordering on anger. "We will be going on a mission soon, and if you are with holding information that might be relevant to my performance –"

"It's more a case of what I was not told rather than what I know," Vincent said in his gravelly voice. "I do not want you to act rashly once you hear what I have to say."

"Just tell me," Cloud said in a tense voice. His body was tense, his fists clenched and his face in profile looked as if it was carved of porcelain.

Vincent seemed to steel himself as he turned towards Cloud and then he told him about Reno's little blackmailing scheme.

Cloud took the news better than expected. Vincent was not sure as to how he had expected Cloud to react but he was finding out that Cloud may be more grown up that most people believe him to be. Everyone expected Cloud to be a hot headed leader who rushed into everything but from the way Cloud assessed the news it was obvious he had enough intelligence to think over his actions.

"Reno had photos of my stuff on his phone," Cloud said slowly. "That does not mean anything." That, Vincent decided was more of a defensive statement than an actual objection.

"Tseng pretty much confirmed it yesterday," Vincent said, just in case Cloud was not realising just how conniving Shin Ra could be.

"So," Cloud ran his fingers through his hair pushing his hair back, which sprang back into position as soon as his fingers pulled free. "They wanted me on this mission so badly they found my weakness."

Vincent realized Cloud was referring to the conversation they'd had about Rufus exploiting Cid's weakness. "The question is, did they generate the weakness or did they trigger it."

"What?"

"Do you normally like rough sex with your partners or did they do something – slip something into your drink perhaps to make you go wild," Vincent voiced his thoughts aloud and watched the blond wince visibly.

"You think it's got to do something with my –" Cloud paled even more, though how that was possible was beyond Vincent's understanding since he was pale. "I didn't drink anything at the bar that day, - I didn't get a chance to. She came up to me and suggested – suggested stuff and I was, well … you know …"

'_**I take it he doesn't get much action, these days.'**_ Chaos startled him so much Vincent jumped visibly and Cloud looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"I don't know," Vincent replied to cover his slip. "Which is why I asked you, how active are you sexually?"

"You shouldn't believe all the rumours about me being the ShinRa toy boy," Cloud said with a wry grin that wasn't quite his. Vincent, having gone through every file he could get his hand (and claw) on about Cloud from the ShinRa archive from his performance to physiological evaluations, recognized the change of personality. He wondered if Cloud always channelled Zack when he was feeling defensive or in a tight spot. Whatever the case, that sort of flippant answer was not very Cloud like. "I didn't get much action then and still don't. On a scale of one to ten, I'd say a negative ten," Cloud added stressing the last sentence. Still, it answered one of his questions.

"Hmm," Vincent said as Chaos crowed joyfully in his head. _**'Let's give the morsel a taste of what he wants.' **_He was starting to believe the monster was as sexually frustrated as they all were. However, Cloud hadn't admitted to living like a monk. "In the past, with your lovers …"

"I don't remember," Cloud said, frustration seeping into his voice. "And if there are people I've maimed in the heat of passion," the words said sarcastically. "They haven't approached me so far."

"Do you get memory lapses often?" Vincent asked, genuinely puzzled. "I was under the impression that you no longer forgot …" He trailed off as he narrowed his eyes and looked at Cloud who had stopped walking. His fists clenched, face red, Cloud looked like a chocobo about to combust from embarrassment. **'**_**He just told you, my host**__,_' Chaos said silkily. '_**He hasn't mated in a while. A couple-of-years long while**__._'

"Attacking your lover still isn't like you," Vincent said carefully instead of voicing, '_what were you doing for the past five years, living in a coffin_'. It would not do to let Cloud get worked up.

"So, how are we going to find out what they did?" Cloud asked abruptly.

"Short of beating Turks into a pulp?" Vincent asked dryly, knowing that was exactly how AVALANCHE worked.

"Do you think they'll talk if we pressed them?" Cloud asked rhetorically. "I was under the impression the Triplets did quiet a number on Tseng and Elena and they didn't say a word."

"_**He didn't ingest anything**_**,"** Chaos echoed in Vincent's mind and Vincent realized it was at times like this he realised just how intelligent Chaos was. That was the point that worried Vincent the most. "_**But there are spells**_**,"** Chaos offered, "_**and such like."**_ Vincent knew it was useless to ask if Cloud had been examined by anyone once he was imprisoned. "_**There is a way of eliminating one possibility**_," Chaos suggested seductively.

"_No."_ Vincent thought forcefully. "_That is a ridiculous suggestion."_

"_**Why not**_**,"** Chaos persisted. **"**_**You, my host are going on a jaunt around the world in leaky ship with people who are more in danger than you are should the tasty morsel go out of control**_**."**

"_He won't_," Vincent thought back.

"_**He comes from a genetic line that boasts of insanity**_**,"** Chaos whispered back maliciously. **"**_**You know what I mean – take over the world, burn villages**_**."** There was a pause when Vincent started to relax. **"**_**It's not as if he hasn't before**_**."**

"Vincent," Cloud said questioningly and Vincent realised he was being quiet for sometime, making the blond uneasy. "What is it?"

"Nothing," Vincent said wryly. "My guests or I should say one of my guests is adding its' two pence worth of suggestions."

"What do they say?' Cloud asked looking interested.

"Nothing that is worth following through," Vincent replied hastily.

"Are you sure?" Cloud asked and there was touch pleading hidden in his voice. "Sometimes not knowing what is wrong is worse than …"

Vincent understood; when his monsters had first made their appearance he had been confused, afraid and lost, not knowing what was going on, losing his humanity with every shift, losing a parts of himself to the other that inhibited his body.

"It's not worth pursing," Vincent said shortly, certain it was a foolhardy idea. However, he was surprised by the feeling of regret in his mind. He had never quiet looked at Cloud as anything other than a teammate no matter what. However he was not blind; it would take more than four monsters residing in him not to notice just how attractive Cloud was. Especially when one of those said monsters wanted to do nothing more than to pull Cloud into a narrow alleyway they were walking past, push him against a dirty, grime covered wall and … Vincent paused as his eyes widened suddenly – were those his thoughts or Chaos'. _'Is that you,_' he thought and was met with silence. '_Is that you projecting your thoughts into me?'_

There was no answer to it.

Vincent frowned as he mentally knocked inside his head, why was it that just when he needed answers the most everyone in his head decided to retreat. He was just about to pull out of his mental battle when Cloud reached out and touched him lightly on the forearm. "Vince …" It was almost as if Chaos had been waiting in him head like a spring and the moment Cloud touched him, in the moment in distraction, surged forward like a black wave. It was only because he was used to moving fast that Vincent was able to follow the movements of his own body (and keep up with it without sustaining damage) as his hand grasped Cloud, pulled him into the alleyway in an instant and slammed him against the wall.

Vincent was strong and with Chaos showing his fangs he was stronger. The back of Cloud's head hit the wall so hard that had Cloud being an ordinary human he would have suffered from massive head trauma in addition to a broken back and ribs, even with his sword taking most of the impact. The wall crumbled in a circle radiating out from the point of impact and plaster and bricks fell to the ground. For a moment, through the fog of red rolling before his vision Vincent saw Cloud's eyes open wide in surprise but his hand did not reach for his sword and neither did he react in any other way. Instead he trustingly leaned back against the wall as Vincent / Chaos swooped down and captured Cloud's mouth in a searing kiss.

Vincent had not kissed anyone in a long time; enough time to actually forget what it was like to kiss someone. Especially someone who was young and willing, clinging to him like as if he needed it as much as Vincent did. As he explored the willing mouth beneath him, Vincent rectified their height difference by picking up Cloud and lifting him higher. Cloud obligingly helped, undoing his sword harness so the heavy weapon fell to the ground and wrapped his legs around Vincent, letting clinging to Vincent's shoulder with one hand while the other tangled up with Vincent's unruly hair. Cloud's mouth tasted of their breakfast, an assortment of tea and toast as well as something that was uniquely his. Vincent recognised the taste of mako, something he would have found slight repulsive in any other circumstance. But for Cloud, it added to the flavour, a slight bitter aftertaste to soft mako complimenting the metallic taste of blood …

Vincent broke free with a start, his mind his own, wondering just when Chaos had relinquished control of his body to him. One of Cloud's legs wound around Vincent's waist in an almost vice like grip and with a muted groan of protest Cloud pulled Vincent back down and for a mindless moment Vincent bend his head and returned to the heated kiss as Cloud aligned their erections with a nudge of his hips. Whatever Cloud might have forgotten about his lovers, Cloud was no virgin and from the way his body moved, Cloud knew exactly what to do. Even as Vincent broke free for the second time, Cloud shifted his hips and Vincent pressed forward, grinding his erection, pressed painfully against the confines of his leather trousers against Cloud's.

Cloud gasped and pulled Vincent closer – his eyes closed, his head titled backwards, hair pressed against the crumbling wall and he started to move his hips rhythmically against Vincent's. Vincent was only human in certain aspects and his body cried for the contact, the wave of release he knew was going to come should he continue their current activity even as he regretfully drew back and looked at what had snapped him out of the current predicament in the first place.

When Chaos had emerged, though it had not been a complete physical manifestation, Vincent's canine teeth had shifted into fangs and had sunk into Cloud's lower lip. His finger nail had scoured deep grooves in the wall and on Cloud's back, tearing right into his back. '_There goes one theory,_' Vincent through a little hysterically. It wasn't Cloud who got violent during intimate contact, it was him.

Cloud opened his eyes slowly and looked at Vincent, his blue eyes confused. "Vincent," he said softly, as he absentmindedly wiped the blood running down his chin with the back of his hand. The lip was already healing, Vincent noted and Cloud did not seem to even notice the injury. "What …"

"I apologise," Vincent said coldly, pulling his personae around him like a cloak. "That was Chaos's idea on …"

Cloud untangled his legs and landed on the ground gracefully and for a moment Vincent had to look away. The look on Cloud's face was one of shock and something that spoke of hurt and betrayal that he wanted to reach forward and reassure the other that, yes, though Chaos had initiated the kiss, he had fully participated in it and yes, he had enjoyed it. However, his fear of admitting what would happen should he admit that his monsters were getting out of control held him back.

Cloud did not answer as he looked down in the ensuring silence, and then continued to fold until he was almost bent double. For a moment Vincent reached forward before he realised Cloud was picking up the sword that he had let go. He watched as Cloud closed his hand around the hilt, his head bent, hair falling forward to cover his face. "That was Chaos' idea on finding out if I was …" he spoke, his face turned downwards, away form Vincent's

"I told you it was not worth pursuing," Vincent said, his throat clogging. His body still yearned for the contact and his erection was no where close to returning to normal.

"No," said Cloud. "It was – alright. Thank you." The blonds' voice was strained as he straightened and returned his sword to the customary place on his back. "It had to be tried."

"I should not have let Chaos force my hand," Vincent said voicing a half truth. Let Cloud interpret it whichever way he wanted – that Vincent let Chaos out or had some control over it. He looked away and sighed. "Perhaps we should continue our way …"

"Yes," said Cloud a tad too hastily. "I guess that didn't prove anything…"

'_**Apart from he's so desperate he'd hump a dead guy,**_' Chaos chortled while Vincent fought to keep his face blank.

"_Shut up,"_ Vincent raged inside his head. _"Haven't you done enough?"_

"_**I didn't do anything,"**_ Chaos answered smugly. _**"My host, you were the one who initiated the whole thing."**_

Vincent forcefully clamped his guest away in a tight compartment in his mind (for how long will that hold a small thought whispered) and nods towards the direction they had been walking before they had been – interrupted.

They fell back into their usual stride, walking side by side though now the silence between them was so strained, Vincent wondered if he should move on ahead as Reno had. He regretted letting Reno go ahead; at least the red-head could have acted as a mediator between them and not let him do anything as stupid as what he had done just then.

Vincent was very much aware of Cloud walking next to him. Face blank, looking straight ahead. There was something about his profile that made Vincent ache to put a hand on Cloud and pull him closer. He wanted to tell Cloud about the monsters that were raging inside of him, breaking free, corroding at his free will and the control he had over his body. That there was something wrong with his body since one of his monsters had taken his body on a mating spree. Perhaps he was overreacting, Vincent thought. After all, he had been fine the entire day, no sign of dizziness or nausea which meant either his body was healing or adapting. Adapting, if that was the correct word for it. Vincent wondered what Tifa would say if he showed up at Seventh Heaven with a couple of …

"…kids," Cloud said and Vincent looked at him startled.

"What?"

"I said, what Reno said is true," Cloud said trying to sound normal. "You're scaring the kids. I can practically see black smoke surrounding you. You need to relax."

And it was true; they were walking past a group of raggedly dressed children who had been playing ball in the open, who had now moved to the protective shade and were looking at them with wide eyes. Vincent's sharp eyes could spot a few who were close to tears. He sneaked a look at Cloud from the corner of his eyes.

"You still have a little blood on your chin," he said carefully.

"Oh," Cloud automatically reached for his chin, colouring a little and Vincent dropped his gaze feeling wishing he was elsewhere. "That won't have people running around here," he said.

"Speaking of people running, there's two," Vincent couldn't help saying as he focused his eyes into the distance.

Cloud looked in the direction Vincent was nodding to, narrowed his eyes and nodded. His sight was almost as good as Vincent's and he was probably able to pick up Marlene and the other boy running towards them, smiling. They had reached Seventh Heaven and Vincent braced himself to meet the rest of the 'gang'.

A/N : I know I did not update in a long time. I'm sorry for keeping everyone waiting. I have been watching a bit of Dr. Who so some of Vincent's methods of questioning came from watching the Dr in action. :D Not the part where hep uses Cloud against a wall though. (Don't worry, Cloud is a big boy, with a backbone, he'll make a come back)

Got anything to say, let me know, I usually do respond to questions and criticism. Hopefully, the next chapter will not take this long.


	13. Chapter 13

I'm sorry I haven't updated this fic in a while. I am writing again. It is amazing how end of year progress reports make you want to write fanfics, read fanfics and do anything other than actually write the damn reports.

Not beated so please point out all the mistakes I have.

Comments and reviews are welcome – actually I enjoy them. So please …

I have a couple of questions that need answering. If you feel like it, take a peek at the bottom of the chapter after you have finished reading.

Part 13

Cloud watched with slight dismay as Marlene rushed past him as if he did not exist and gave Vincent, who was more startled than anything else, a hug worthy of Yuffie on her more exuberant days. Denzel, who was trying very hard to maintain his status as the 'older' and therefore more mature of the two, came at a more dignified pace but he too, ignored Cloud very pointedly.

Fine, he was getting the silent treatment for abandoning them; they were as bad as Tifa at times and Cloud could not wholeheartedly blame them. As orphans, the children clung to the people around them, afraid of loosing anyone close to them and Cloud had done the inexcusable - he had dropped out of their world without warning. He looked under his bangs at Vincent who had picked up Marlene a little awkwardly but easily and was looking at Denzel as if wondering if he should do the same. Cloud wondered how long he was going to have to wait before he was back in their good books, so to speak.

At the moment, he needed time to gather his wits and letting the taller man deal with the kids, Cloud took advantage of the situation to entre the bar first. It was not that he wanted to avoid Vincent, per say, he was not sure as to what exactly had transpired between the two of them in that alley-way and he wanted to think it over in his own time. Cloud was uncertain if he had committed some social blunder or just missed an obvious clue staring at him in the face. What he needed was time to contemplate on the incident – Cloud only thought on his feet when fighting, the rest of the time he needed to make an effort to connect the dots. The best way for him to get about doing that was by avoiding Vincent until he had planned his next step. Perhaps if he went in first without Vincent he could pretend he had come in alone.

Not that there was much chance of that, he thought wryly, when the first person he laid eyes on happened to be Reno, seated in the bar area. Cloud looked around, taking in the empty, semi-dark interior, more out of habit than anything else. Seventh Heaven usually opened late, since most of its' customers were the type to sit up well into the night and Tifa made a point to keep the bar closed if the group ever dropped by for their own 'reunion' as she called it. Still the sight of Reno made Cloud instinctively narrowed his eyes and took a look around the bar for bodies. (It was similar to his reaction of clutching tightly at his material every time he saw Yuffie.)

Cloud nodded a greeting at Nanaki who was drinking from a special bowl off the bar while balance on a stool. He wanted desperately know where Tifa was – whether she was waiting to ambush him up in his room and she was the last person he wanted to see. However, given the choice of Tifa coming down any instance and chance to hide himself in his room for a few minutes of peace, Cloud decided to take the risk and started to head towards his room.

Nanaki, unaware of Cloud's need to escape from the bar area nodded back in a friendly manner, "Cloud," he said and Cloud notices a few drops of whatever the cat was drinking was stuck to his whiskers, resembling pale beads.

"Hey," Cloud nodded, forcing his shoulders to relax a little. "Where's everyone?" He had never been the type of make conversation so it was possible for him to get away with a couple of words and a few expressive grunts.

"Tifa is outside with Yuffie – said they'd be sparring," Nanaki replied. "I think Cid is looking over the airship, getting the stuff ready and he doesn't trust anyone to do the final check up and Barret is downstairs getting his packing done."

Cloud paused, wondering if he should greet Barret, especially since he had not seen the man in sometime but he did not want to delay his escape. Additionally, he needed to be prepared to convince Barret as to why they should be helping Rufus Shinra and that was one argument he was willing to postpone.

"I'll go speak to him after I've dropped off my stuff," Cloud said evasively. "I guess I need to discuss a few things with him."

"How much are we getting out of this mission?" Nanaki asked, reading Cloud easily. Barret was positive Rufus was underpaying us".

Cloud looked at Reno and shook his head at Nanaki, to imply he did not want to reveal anything in the presences of Reno. Reno might have access to all the information he needed via the Turk network but Cloud was not about to make his job easier. If Reno wanted to find out something, the Turk might as well go search for the information the hard way. "There are a few thing we need to make sure of, so I'll tell you all about it when we have a meeting later today."

"You know Barett is going to be vexed he missed the actual meeting," Nanaki pointed out. "He's going to question you on everything."

Cloud nodded in understanding. "I don't want to be there when he meets Rufus face to face," he added with a grimace, imagining the moment when those two would step onto the same airship.

"I can see some troubled sailing ahead," Nanaki agreed with a matching grimace which looked comical on his face.

"I'll just dump my gear in my room and be right down," Cloud said as he edged toward escape. He had done the mandatory polite conversation and now he was eager leave the bar area before Vincent came in, especially since he now knew Tifa was not waiting for him upstairs.

"So," said Reno taking a sip off his drink, which Cloud knew by smell was not alcoholic. Cloud tensed as he took in Reno's innocent expression, knowing very well that the Turk was not as drunk as he made out to be. "Was it big?"

"I'm sorry," said Cloud, seeing a trap but no way of avoiding it.

"The monster that attacked you on the way here," Reno continued looking genuinely curious.

"We –," started Cloud the changed track, not wanting to admit he walked the way with Vincent. "There were no monsters on the way," he said finally.

"Hmm," said Reno building up the tension by taking another unnecessary sip off his drink. "Interesting."

Cloud knew he could walk away, he knew but a part of him was dying to know what Reno was up to. He was aware he was not the quickest at picking up subtle vibes, most certainly not the innuendoes the Turk seem to have at his disposal but Cloud was afraid to leave. It was the way he had felt when he wanted to ask someone if there was spinach between his teeth but was afraid to open his mouth just incase there was. "Why did you ask that?" he asked aware Nanaki was watching the exchange closely as well.

"Nothing," said Reno with a shrug as if he was already thinking of his next target to torment. "Just saw those huge slashes on your shirt," he added almost absentmindedly. "Looks like something with long nails did it." He finished the last of his drink by throwing his head back and swallowing deeply and for a moment Cloud was distracted by the long slender throat before his eyes snapped back up. Reno was pale skinned the way most redheads were, and easy on the eye, something Cloud tried very hard to forget. "A claw perhaps," Reno concluded as he looked straight at Cloud.

"Old shirt," Cloud said in a very non-convincing tone, blushing when he realised he had been staring at Reno of all the people. Not that Reno was ugly or anything and Cloud was not blind but he had enough problems in his life without adding on to it. Reno was sharper than he looked and Cloud had just walked into a verbal trap – he was not going to let his guard down no matter what his libido said. He edged towards the staircase, intent on getting away from the observant Turk …

"Should I send Vincent up as well," Reno asked all too innocently and Cloud did not bother with an answer. Instead, he turned around and walked up the steps before he wound up decapitating the annoying red headed Turk to save himself some pain and embarrassment. He was _definitely_ not looking forward to being trapped on board a flying ship with the redhead for Gaia knows how long.

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Vincent set down the little girl he was carrying down, taking in Reno and Red who were seated at the bar. He gave a once over, noting the absence of Cloud, the slight smug look Reno was wearing, weapon placement and the usual bar layout before concentrating on more social activates. Vincent drew up a stool and sat down, pushing his cloak aside and Denzel, who had walked in with him looked speculatively at Death Penalty.

"You can't touch it," Vincent said before the boy could ask. "And yes, it's heavy."

"I just wanted to…" Denzel pouted a little. "Cloud lets me use some of his swords," he said instead.

Vincent bit back a retort that Cloud probably let Denzel hold the smaller swords, not the heavier ones – Cloud had a collection of swords to rival Shinra armoury by now. He was sure that at Denzel's age he had also been fascinated by large weapons though it was so long ago he wondered if he had ever been that young. The girl, Marlene approached him, braver than the boy – perhaps more used to his presence. She placed her small hand on his knee and looked at him trustingly. "Can we just touch it?" she asked. Vincent regarded the children thoughtfully; he was not averse to children, he just did not have enough practice with them as Tifa and Cloud seemed to have.

"Not today," he said firmly and both children drew back disappointed. The little girl seemed to take the answer as a positive response since she clambered up the stool to sit beside Vincent while the boy glared at him, just out of arms' reach.

The boy was at an age when he was not sure which weapon he wanted to use, and the people that he lives with were all specialists in their own chosen skill. Even if Vincent was not around, should Denzel decide to stick to a gun, his adopted father would be around to teach him the basics. Vincent was not very sure of the girl, he was not even sure if she was capable of fighting. She was a quiet wisp of a thing and Vincent was from a time when women were expected to stay at home while men fought. Still, he wondered if his presence disturbed the children and unthinkingly, Vincent tilted his head to a side to listen her heart beat when the dizziness struck. He caught the edge of the table tightly, concentrating on staying still and found himself staring at Nanaki who was looking at him with his nose flaring.

"You smelled different," Nanaki said finally. He sniffed the air again and shook his head. "It's gone –" Nanaki sneezed violently to clear his airway and frowned. "I didn't imagine it, Vincent. For a moment there you smelled like something else."

Vincent took in the information carefully with a nod of his head unwilling to follow up in the presence of someone else. "But doesn't gramps always smell funny?" Reno piped in, using words the way Cloud used his sword to dig into something. "He's got four monsters inside him." Vincent, having undergone Turk training was familiar with this questioning tactic but it was obvious Nanaki was not.

"Vincent smells different when he transforms," Nanak agreed. "But those smells don't overlap. Just now, Vincent smelled different for an instant." Nanaki having finished his explanation frowned into his bowl. "It was not the healthiest of smells."

Vincent smirked slightly over Red's head and watched Reno blink once before looking down at his empty glass. A Turk was taught a lot about reading body movements. A Turk also knew that other Turks knew the same things they did which left them wondering when they were being played with and when they were reading each others' unconscious reactions. Vincent was playing on Reno's uncertainty to enforce the fact he himself did not know the meaning of Nanaki's revelation.

"Well, then," said Reno standing up in the ensuring silence. "Seems like my drinks finished so I should be head back to my dreary job." He smirked at Vincent as if to challenge the statement and swaggered out looking as if he had done a good days work.

"What was he here for?" Vincent asked the moment Reno was out of hearing range.

"He came to pass a message from Rufus to Tifa," Nanaki said looking up with a frown. "She did not say what it was but it seemed she was amused by it than worried." The big cat leapt off the stool gracefully and stretched. "Tifa is outside in the backyard with Yuffie and Cloud is upstairs," he added with a cat-smile of his own. "I'm going to find a warm spot on backroom and sun myself. Something tells me it'll be the last time I'll get some peace and quiet for sometime to come."

Vincent could not argue with the logic of getting some rest but he was curious about Reno's errand. He frowned as he stood up and decided he needed to deal with Tifa before anything else. Whatever Reno and ShinRa was planning he did not think she was stupid enough to fall for it but he was also aware of just how accomplished Tseng was and did not want to underestimate the current head of Turks.

Taking a deep breath Vincent stood up, adjusting his cloak with a swift snap of his wrist before making his way to the back where Tifa had a practice area set up. If nothing else, going against Loz had taught her that she should not let herself go slack since there was always someone strong waiting to pick to fight. "Mind the bar," he told the children. "This should not take long."

The training area was an enclosed backyard with all sorts of junk assembled to give the people using it a bit of a terrain to work on. Yuffie stood in the middle, facing Tifa, her hands on her hips, Conformer hanging from a loop in her belt. Yuffie looking tired but serious, her mouth set in a firm line, panting – it was obvious Tifa had won that particular sparring match since the older female was not even winded. Vincent stood observing the way the girl was standing, noting that though not as physically endowed as Tifa, the ninja looked more like a woman than when they had first run into her.

Like the ninja she claimed to be Yuffieproved she was aware of her surroundings by turned around, looking straight at Vincent. "Yo," she said in greeting as she motioned with her hand to bring the training to a halt. "About time you dropped by," she added, looking over his shoulder. "Where's Cloud?"

Which was something Vincent was trying very hard not to think of it. "I'd like to speak to Tifa," he said instead.

"Told you," Yuffie said with a smirk towards Tifa. "He'd want to talk to you the moment he set foot here."

"Good," said Tifa pulling off her gloves. "I also want to talk to him."

Vincent wondered if he should just disappear which was better than facing wrath of Tifa when it came to Cloud. Only the knowledge that Tifa had not spoken to Cloud since they had stepped into the bar held him together. That was another mess … ("_**mess my host, I thought it went very well**_") Vincent had to deal with before the day was over provided he could look at Cloud without remembering that moment when

_**("pushed him against a wall and plundered his mouth with…")**_ he had lost control to Chaos who was still trying to whisper even more lurid details.

"I think I'll grab a drink while the grown ups talk," Yuffie teased before brushing past Vincent, giggling to herself. Vincent managed to move away just in time to stop her from taking the Heal material he had taken to carrying with him since his sickness, out of his pocket. He snorted in amusement and shook his head to dhow her that he was aware of her actions. "What," Yuffie winked as she danced back. "I just wanted to make sure that was a gun in your pocket …"

"She still has the special touch, I see," Tifa said coming up to Vincent. "You are the person I was waiting for all morning. Spar with me."

"Me," said Vincent raising an eye brow. "I'd have thought you have enough people to spar with."

"Not even close," she said with a shrug reaching into her pocket, pulling out another pair of gloves. "I'm out of shape and I need to practice going against someone who doesn't use a melee weapons. I know one of the surviving remnants uses a gun."

Vincent could not argue with her on that, he was the only person in their group who used a gun with the same flexibility Yazoo did.

"Yazoo uses a gun blade," he said cautiously even as he took out Death Penalty wondering if he should use it in a sparing match. "Nothing like what I use."

"You are the closest," she said without missing a beat. "I spar with Cloud whenever I can but sometimes I think he hold back too much. Plus I haven't gone against anyone with a gun in ages."

"You act as if you miss that experience," Vincent replied even as he pulled out his half-damage ammo he kept specifically for sparing. He did not want to accidentally shoot Tifa through the skull.

Tifa rolled her eyes, either at his comment or at his choice of ammunition. "I wish you wouldn't hold back," she said with a scowl. "I'm not made of glass you know – both you and Cloud act as if I'd shatter if you break my fingernail."

"We are flying out tomorrow," Vincent reminded her gravely. "You do not have the time to recover from anything more serious than a severed limb."

Tifa stared at him for a moment before smiling. "Your jokes are worse than Clouds."

"I'll leave the more entraining jokes to Reno," Vincent said as he stepped into the training ground. "I heard he came here to offer you a …" he ducked, his superior reflexes saving him from a well places punch. He had not expected Tifa to start her attack without announcing but then again, she was going to need the advantage. He brought up his gun and shot twice, only to discover she had moved far too close for him to aim properly.

Even as Vincent adjusted his aim, Tifa leaped back deftly, casting level2 lightning to keep Vincent busy as she landed neatly behind him. Their weapons were an odd combination of close quarter fighting and ranged attack, making their moves more difficult to coordinate. Tifa needed to move closer in order to land a hit and Vincent needed to keep his distance if he was to shoot a moving target.

Vincent sprang up, twisting mid jump, aiming for Tifa even as she moved towards him with astounding speed. She was good, better than expected but Vincent was not quiet human. He landed on one of the discarded chair backs, balancing himself neatly on the slim wood waiting … Tifa took the bait, she would have even if she had known it was a trap. She charged forward, kicking his stand from under his feet even as she propelled herself up, aiming a solid punch at his chest.

Vincent threw himself backwards; Tifa followed using her momentum to springboard, missed Vincent by a couple of millimetres and was propelled up past him. Vincent took advantage of it to grab her bicep only to realise his mistake. She was trying to get close enough to knock his gun away and she was close to succeeding. Vincent knocked her away, letting go just in time as Tifa kicked his gun arm. The ball of her foot connected solidly with his elbow and he grunted in surprise. Had he been human his arm would have shattered – as it was, pain radiated from his elbow to his shoulder making his grip weaken.

Unwilling to let Tifa win, he switched hands, grabbed Tifa by her ankle and swung her around over his head in a classic lasso move, then threw her sharply. At the same time Tifa performed a backward kick, a combination of her summersault and waterkick kicking him squarely on the chest. Tifa hit the wall of the back wall, almost clinging to the wall like a spider before springing forward. Vincent hit the fence surrounding the training area with both feet, got dizzy and landed on the ground awkwardly on his left knee …

For a moment Vincent had to fight back the bile rising to his throat so he would not throw up at his feet, far too busy to pay attention to Tifa was had rushed to his side.

"Vincent…"

"I slipped," Vincent said getting to his feet with his usual grace.

"Bullshit," Tifa snapped. "You never slip. What the fuck was that, Vincent and don't try to avoid my question."

Vincent wondered where Tifa learned to speak like that, probably from running a bar. "It was nothing," Vincent said as he holstered his gun, knowing that their training session was over.

Tifa grabbed his arm in a firm grasp and pulled him down to her eye level. "Oh no, you don't," she said. "We're going out on a mission tomorrow – I need to know what is wrong with you or you stay behind."

Vincent looked at her, realising she was serious – short of killing Tifa and hiding her body he was not going to be able avoid this conversation. Somehow, he did not think she would be too pleased to find out how it had all started – by one of his monster's becoming intimate with the local wildlife. "I don't know," he said shortly, letting his body language speak for him. His Turk training had always helped him lie convincingly. "I've been feeling unwell from time to time but it will not interfere with our mission."

"Is it something like Cloud's geostigma?" Tifa asked urgently and Vincent paused. He had not considered anything like that, it had not even come to his mind. "Something to do with your – your time with Hojo?"

"I do not believe it to be," Vincent replied evasively as he looked away. Had Tifa always been this smart or had he grown relaxed.

"Are you sure," Tifa said, biting her lower lip. "I have been looking at some of the old solder records Reeve was kind enough to share with us and there is a mention of degradation of cells in Soldiers, especially first class…"

"I was never a Soldier," Vincent replied softly. "You need not worry – I will be fine."

"Of course I worry," Tifa snapped offended. "I worry for the all of us…" Tifa started to speak but stopped with a grimace. "I know you Vincent, never a straight answer if you don't want to give it. I suppose everyone else doesn't know that something is wrong with you."

Vincent wanted to deny that anything was wrong with him but he did not see much point in acting coy with such a level-headed female. "I would prefer to keep this between the two of us," he said carefully.

"How long has this been going on?" Tifa asked, eyes narrowed.

"Why did Reno come to see you?" Vincent asked instead.

Tifa gave Vincent a levelled stare and calmly wiped her hands on her skirt. "If you think I'm letting you evade my questions so easily, you have another thing coming," she said.

Vincent waited, having gained him equilibrium. Tifa looked at him with a grimace and then nodded. "Fine, this brings me to the topic I wanted to discuss with you," Tifa said briskly. "Once this job is over, I want you to start training Marlene to use a gun."

Vincent wondered if he had hit his head somewhere. "What?"

"She wants to learn how to use a weapon and prefers to use a gun like her father," Tifa explained shortly. "Frankly, it's better if she knows how to defend herself – Midgar isn't exactly a safe place for a girl to grow up in and we're not going to be here forever you knoe."

"But isn't she a little too young…" Vincent started to protest.

"I was younger than her when I started my training," Tifa said dismissing his protest. "And before you start, there is no one else better. Barrett is never around, and even if he were, having a gun wielded to your arm is different from using a separate weapon."

Vincent stared at Tifa, having been blindsided by her request.

"Plus, I know Marlene likes you," Tifa smirked. "I'm not going to make it easy for her either – if she wants to learn from you, she'll have to ask you and you don't have to coddle her. But all I'm asking you, please, consider it."

Put that way, there was no way Vincent could refuse her. He nodded his head and looked down, eyes half closed. She had trapped him neatly and now she would be able to keep an eye on him discreetly. "Are you sure you weren't a Turk," he asked.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Tifa grinned.

"About Reno," Vincent pressed.

"Oh, it was nothing," Tifa said dismissively. "He just brought a massage from Rufus asking me out for a date."

"And in the layer of evil…"

"Reno, stop that," Tseng growled under his breath as he messaged his temples. "Did Miss. Lockhart have a reply to the request?"

"She said she'll think about it," Reno replied as he leaned against the wall, hands in his pockets looking for the world as if he had just gotten a blow job. For all Tseng knew, Reno might as well have. "But I tell you, yo, she's going to say yes."

"And you know this because of your psychic ability," Rufus said in a sarcastic drawl from behind his seat behind his table.

"Because as I was leaving Cloud and Vincent walked in,' Reno replied with another of his custom smirks. "They would want to know why I was there and when they hear about the offer they'd tell her to refuse."

"This is very positive news," Rufus said with a grimace.

"I think I know what senpai is saying," Elena spoke up at that from her post near the door. "No one wants to be told what to do."

"Especially when you are woman," Tseng mumbled under his death. "Perhaps everyone else's heavy handed attempts persuade Miss. Lockhart to refuse your offer will play out to our advantage. Reno might be correct in his assumption."

"Damn," said Reno preening visibly. "I wish Rude was here to see this moment in history." Now that his partner was recovering nicely, Reno could joke about it as if normal.

"It was not as if the man actually said anything during meetings," Rufus pointed out spitefully. "I don't see why I cannot take a regular bodyguard to this meeting with the rebel leaders." At least Rufus had gotten over the stage where he was convinced he could do everything by himself. Tseng was grateful for geostigma for that if nothing else. Since he had recovered the President had become a little mellow making it easier for the Turks to prevent him from doing anything spectacularly foolhardy.

"Because they specifically told you not to bring a bodyguard and they know all about the Turks. Therefore we had to find an alternative."

"Amazing that after all they have done Strife and his female are not known," Rufus commented and Tseng decided to update the President onto the state of 'Strife and his female's' relationship. "What's the next order of business?"

"The preparations for your departure tomorrow are on track," Tseng said smoothly before Reno could mouth off the president. "Jes has been relocated to a discreet location and …"

"In the olden days we got rid of people a little more permanently," Reno could not help quipping.

"It was rather difficult to call them back to active duty afterwards," Tseng deadpanned.

"I suppose we should be prepared to deal with whatever we discover on this little jaunt around the world," Rufus said as if the two had not spoken. "Strife is not going to be very happy with what we are going to dig up – at least we have to be grateful that none of them seem intelligent enough to understand the true potential…"

"It would not do to underestimate the man who stopped Sephiroth twice," Tseng said before Rufus could continue. "Additionally, Valentine was a Turk which makes him dangerous."

"That man has been out of service for over thirty years," Rufus said dismissively.

"You know what they say about Turks and Soldiers," Reno said casually, from his post. "That Soldiers are made but Turks are born. You're born a Turk and you die as one – of course in this case …"

"We have Hojo to thank for that," Tseng said smoothly, intervening before Reno continued. It was not a wonder that these meeting left him feeling drained and wrung out, keeping both the President and Reno in line was a difficult as babysitting a heard of wild chocoboos. "Which is the next topic of discussion, Mr. President. I believe it would be for the best interest of us all if we were to brief Strife and his group of what we expect to find."

"Which might not be a good thing," Rufus said thoughtfully. "I need Strife – I can't have him dashing off haphazardly, and given his dislike for Hojo, we cannot anticipate how he would react."

"True," Tseng agreed. "There is no love lost in the group when it comes to Hojo. After all, that mad man did stick Strife in a mako container for quiet some time."

"Well, things could have been handled a little better," Rufus agreed. "But it was not as if you could blame Hojo totally – there weren't that many options when it came to breeding Soldiers and Gaia forbid, it wasn't as if the first class Soldiers was interested in women."

"Well, it might have been because the only woman in their vicinity was Scarlet," Reno pointed out and even Elena had to stifle a giggle at that statement. Tseng was sure the reason their youngest recruit was such a blabber mouth was as a result of Reno's influence. He looked at his wrist watch and discreetly reached for the headache pills he carried in his pocket. The night was still young as they said and it looked as if none of them was going to get any sleep.

A/N – I've gone and fallen in love with Bleach Musicals. Then I found out the guy who acts as Zaraki is actually Vincent's Jap voice actor. I'm in love again. :D

Questions:

I've been squinting at my film clips of Dirge of Cerberus where you get young Vincent. What color are his eyes? I think brown – (not red anyway?)

I have a small plot idea where I put Cloud in a dress – do you think it's too cliché by now?

So my chapters have ups and down, and this chapter is what I would call a plot build up chapter. There will be a more of these chapters but I will try to squeeze in some smut in between. It was much easier with my Gundam Wing fics where there is smut in almost every chapter. Trying to go home for the Christmas Vacation – will try to upload at least one more chapter before then. Thank you for reading.


	14. Chapter 14

Part 14

**A/N** – This chapter has three parts. One of them is a flashback. I hate putting *flashback* so I hope the transition is smooth enough for you to notice it as a flashback without it being too obvious. One of my readers asked for Genesis so this is it. I know it isn't much but I try to do fit in everyone. Realistically, there are far too many characters running around so I will have to eventually have to push some of them to the background.

Thank you for the feedback and reviews, especially to Calvi-sama who pointed out all the blunders I made in the previous chapter and to everyone who read and answered my questions.

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Rufus looked over the shipping manifest, ensuring the supplies they had received were the ones he had ordered, making small notations on the margins of the receipts to remind himself to look over certain items from storage to verify they matched the specifications. He flicked over another order form and scowled as the familiar smell of cheap cologne made him flinch internally.

Rufus fought the urge to turn around to see just how close to him Reno was standing, and instead held himself steady pretending to be absorbed in his papers. It was not as if he did wanted to but lately he had been extremely aware of Reno. No, Rufus amended, being brutally honest with his weaknesses as he had always been. It was not a recent occurrence, but it had been only after the attempts on his life that Reno had taken to waiting in Rufus' office while he worked late.

"Don't you think your time is better spent on something else other than watching me," Rufus said to Reno without lifting his head. "Go visit your partner in the hospital wing if it makes you happy. After all, this might be the last chance you get in a while." Tseng was already away, finalizing everything.

"Why boss." Reno sounded far too close for Rufus' comfort. "I didn't know you cared."

"I just don't like to see manpower wasted," Rufus replied fighting the urge to look over his shoulder. Was it his imagination or could he really feel the heat of his Turk against his shoulder.

"It is hardly a waste," Reno said softly and for a moment Rufus strained his ears trying to figure out where exactly Reno was, wishing it was Tseng in the office with him. Strong, dependable Tseng who did not make Rufus' feel conflicted, who did not make Rufus question his feelings.

Rufus sighed, straightened his back and pushed out his legs, feeling his toes tingle. His doctors had advised him against sitting in one place for a long time, citing that it was bad for the circulation of his legs and after been wheelchair bound for a while, he did not wish to repeat the experience. With a bitten-back grunt, he pushed himself to his feet, knowing without looking that Reno was following his movements closely, standing right behind him waiting to catch him should he fall. Or probably take a photo of it and laugh his head off.

Rufus cursed his body as he shifted his feet carefully to make sure his footing was steady before walking towards the bar on the side of the room. "A drink, Reno?" he asked carefully, still not looking at the Turk. At _his_ Turk – all the Turks were his, paid for with his money and technically belonged to him body and soul. So what made Reno special – Rufus wondered silently; when had Reno become distinctive compared to the rest?

Even as he asked the question, Rufus acknowledged he knew the answer. It had been when he had been wracked with pain, wanting to die, stuck to his wheelchair or his pristine white hospital bed, while the geostigma ate into his body; his muscles, his eye, his dignity.

He had been in Calm, which was not exactly the sort of place people stopped by to for a visit and a cup of tea and Rufus preferred it that way. He had hated atmosphere of Midgar, the people who 'dropped in' to see how he was doing, mostly to see if he was any closer to dying. It had been a particularly hard day when the foggy air had made it difficult for him to catch his breath and he had been unable to finish the mild soup the chef had prepared specially for him. The doctor, _his doctor_, a specialist flown all the way from Mideel had been there, looking over Rufus' charts, nodding to himself as if all the secrets of the world were just there. Rufus had pushed away his tepid soup, leaned back against the pillows piled behind him and turned his head carefully.

"This food is terrible," he had commented carefully.

"Hmm," the doctor had said vaguely before reaching to his well-stocked bag and looking at his stock of pills and injections. "I seem to have found the main cause for cell decay," he looked at his notes before nodding. The doctor made no move to neither remove the tray containing the soup bowl from Rufus' lap nor actually look into his patient in the eye. "How is your back?"

Not wanting to admit that he was in pain, Rufus had picked up the trap, his hands cramping at the movement. His fingers had felt stiff and unresponsive as had he lifted it from the edges and his forearms protested as he moved to it to the low stool next to the bed

"Do you feel your legs?" The doctor asked as Rufus twisted his upper body slightly and he could feel the skin on his chest rupture beneath the bandages. He steeled himself for the pain as the bandages became soaked with the blackish seepage from his decaying body. The tray had made a rather shaky decent to the destination and Rufus had fallen back to his previous position panting slightly.

Rufus had looked up carefully, his back aching, his face burning, tears of pain making his vision swim, to see Reno leaning against the doorframe of his sick-room, watching him with a hooded graze. By rights, the only person allowed into the room had been his personal physician (the fool who didn't know what to do), the chef/ cleaner and Tseng whom Rufus trusted with his life.

"My legs," Rufus had said absentmindedly. "Yes, I can feel them," and they were in pain most of the time like the rest of him.

Rufus has let his head tilt back and gazed back at Reno and the red head had continued to look at Rufus, lying in his bed against the stained sheets, straining for his breath. The look on Reno's face had been a mixture of pity and something else – something that had made Rufus uneasy enough to clear his throat and speak to the doctor. "My bandages need to be changed."

"I changed them when I arrived," the doctor had told Rufus coldly making a point since Tseng had restricted access to Rufus. Only the doctor was allowed to examine the President of ShinRa and the doctor, without his ever helpful assistant had been forced to do menial work such as changing bandages. "Here, take these pills. I'll give you an injection that will help cell regeneration and this …"

Rufus had sunk into his mind then, wordlessly taking the pills and swallowing them dry as the doctor had droned on. He really did not believe in the medicine he was swallowing; the pain receded and sometimes his thoughts got away from him and he wondered if the pills were nothing more than hyped up 'happy-drugs'. Still it helped pass the time; he was not aware of the doctor going away or the arrival of Tseng until his second in command appeared by his bedside to brief him on the daily updates.

"…our scientists think the geostigma is a result of the remains of genova in the lifestream and the people's bodies. Years of breeding has build up enough of the alien entity in our body for the planet to treat it as a threat and the …

"Reno wants to kill me," Rufus told Tseng interrupting him. He really did not want to hear more about the thing that was eating him inside out.

"Why do you say that?" Tseng had asked, even as he had reached for Rufus' forehead as if feeling for fever. He did not sound ruffled or agitated which should have annoyed Rufus but did not.

"He's been watching me," Rufus had replied, high on the pills he had taken earlier, before Tseng had arrived.

"And this is reason for you to suspect he will assassinate you?" Tseng had asked calmly as he had placed some more the pills in Rufus' open palm and handing him the glass of water to the other.

Rufus' wasted muscles refused to cooperate, spilling the glass of water on to his lap. In his drug induced daze, Rufus watched the liquid seep into his bedspread and managed a sound between a cough and a laugh. "Assassinate me," he said with suppressed mirth. Suddenly the whole world was funny to him. "Hardly," Rufus snorted. "Tell me Tseng, if you came across a dog with a broken back on the side of the road, what would you do?"

"Sir." Tseng sounded startled, pausing in his act of removing the saturated bed sheets, hampered by Rufus' inert body. "You are hardly an injured stray dog," he had added as if placating a child.

"Would you run over it or shoot it in the head?" Rufus had rumbled, oblivious to his head of Turk who was wrestling with the sheets. "Call it a mercy killing. Put it out of its misery. "

Tseng had left shortly afterwards, looking worried, and probably intent on talking to his doctor who had taken the afternoon off. After Tseng had gone Rufus had lain back on his now clean sheets enjoying the feeling of dry bandages for however long it lasted when he had been shaken from his reviver by the appearance of a another person on his bed. Thinking back, he was sure Reno had leapt onto the bed, landing on his knees straddling Rufus' prone body but back then it had been as if between one blink on the eye and the next, the red head had appeared out of thin air, hovering over him.

"Wha…"

Reno had leaned forward, supporting his weight on arms placed on either side of Rufus' head. Rufus wonder if Reno could smell the stink of decay; even he could smell it from time to time. He could see it in Tseng's eyes, the twitch in his doctor's mouth and the wrinkling of the nose of his room server who came to take his trays away.

"Get this straight," Reno hissed as he leaned so close to Rufus that he could smell Reno's breath, a mixture of mint and cinnamon, the chewing gum he had taken to in the absence of cigarettes. The doctor had forbidden anyone from smoking in Rufus' presence and though he had heard Reno fuss about everything from the crappy food to Rude's dress sense Rufus had never heard the Turk grumble even once about the enforced smoking ban. "I never want to kill you," Reno continued.

"You were eavesdropping on …"

"I do not pity you nor do I want to 'put you out of your misery' as you say…" Reno continued.

"Get off my bed or I will call the guards," Rufus ground out.

"I am the _guards_, yo," Reno said cockily. "And you …I would never, ever dream of you dying – you're too stubborn for that. I hate your guts and Gaia knows the number of times when I've wanted to pound you to the ground, well, in more than one way … and you …" Rufus thought firmly that Reno referred to different methods of beating up people and not - anything lewd. "… just get better," Reno finished as he rolled off the bed lightly.

"I'll have your head for this," Rufus has snarled at last. How dare Reno infringe on his personal space and … warm, chaffed lips had closed over his lightly, almost caressing his before the redhead had hot footed out of the room as if his tail was on fire.

Rufus had looked at his bedside phone and decide he would discuss the incident with Tseng the next day, personally. It was not worth calling his second in command like a little virgin who'd been preyed upon by a wicked man. Not that the analogy was exactly right … Rufus was not some virgin and the pills were really starting to kick in.

The next day Tseng had appeared with the news of the remains of genova in the Northern Crater and Rufus had been focused elsewhere as all hell had broken lose. He had also, surprisingly seemed to have found his second wind, able to face down the remnants and the chaos they brought with them, sit in his wheel chair and try to reason with Strife. The same muscle bound idiot who was going to be in charge of the expedition Rufus was setting off on soon.

"So," said Reno approaching Rufus casually with his hands in his pockets. "What are we drinking to?"

Rufus snapped out of his reminiscence and poured himself a drink, bringing himself back to the present, handing over the glass he was holding to Reno. "To our success," he said briefly. "May we find what we're looking for?"

"For our sake, I hope not," Reno retorted snapping his head back and downing the glass in one gulp. He chocked and coughed as the alcohol burned down his throat. "The good stuff, yo," he said in his usual tone. "Gimme some more."

"Not while you're on duty," Rufus snapped in annoyance. "I have more work to do, you should go back to your post."

"Whatever, yo," Reno said cockily and as he moved past Rufus, brushed against him almost imperceptibly. Rufus stiffened wondering in the fingers he had felt against him was imaginary or not. Suddenly, he had a headache and felt the urge to just go back to his room and shut himself in for the rest of the night. He was not lucky enough, he still had an account sheet to look over. The entire stint with Strife and the group was leaching company funds – more than he could afford since ShinRa was hardly financial stable since it was no longer an electric company. He suppose those muscle bound idiots were getting drunk and doing whatever they did while he did all the work.

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Vincent did not like the underground secret room at Seventh Heaven very much. Actually, he did not like it at all. The feeling of being trapped in an underground room where the only exit opened up into a bar area, not matter how deserted, made him uneasy.

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, pressed closer the wall and pulled up his cloak until his face was almost covered. His main aim was to become as inconspicuous as possible so no one would even look at him until the argument was over, which was the best he could hope for. Perhaps if he could blend into the walls, Tifa would not notice him once her argument with Barrett was over. He discreetly directed his attention to the rest of the group to see how things were going.

Cloud and Barrett were both being foolhardy in thinking they could persuade Tifa into changing her mind about acting as a bodyguard to Rufus Shinra. The rest of the group were scattered around the room, proving they were more intelligent than those two. Nanaki was under the centre table, crouched on his forelegs, backlegs tucked under him, pretending to be a real house cat. Cid, chewing on an unlit cigar was leaning against the wall next to Vincent.

"You do not wish to take part in the conversation?" Vincent asked dryly.

"If you call that a conversation," Cid snorted. "I'm a married man, I know when women get their way." Vincent looked to his left, the reminder that Cid was married not quiet bothering him but not making him feel pleased either. Yuffie tugged at his cloak before ducking behind it.

"When did you last wash this thing?" she asked wrinkling her nose.

Vincent wisely kept his mouth shut as he focused his attention to the drama taking place in the middle.

"Why do you need the extra money anyway?" Barrett was saying, probably because his male-pride had taken a hit from being told he could not support his woman.

"Because we need the money," Tifa said in a tone which meant she was about to explode any second not that the two males seem to notice.

"I thought the bar was bringing in enough," Cloud said stupidly.

"Really," Tifa said in a dangerous voice.

"And the money I send you last time for …" Barrett started

"Was two months ago and I spent it on Marlene's shoes," Tifa said through gritted teeth. "

"But …"

"What about …"

"Shut up both of you," Tifa bellowed out. "If you think you know anything about the money issues I have, then you are sadly mistaken."

"_**Hmmm**_**,"** said another voice adding its contribution. _**"I love a strong woman. They are supposed to be festy in bed as well."**_ Vincent was glad no one could hear Chaos.

"Neither of you have any right to tell me what to do here. It's not as if either of you are around to know what is going on."

"_**An observant female who noticed you were unwell,"**_ Chaos purred. _**"Would it have killed you my host, to tell me your body was failing?"**_

Vincent looked up startled and then ducked his head down in reflex. Everyone else, captivated by the drama unfolding before them, did not notice the sudden movement. _"What do you mean, you did not know I was unwell,"_ Vincent thought back furiously. _"You live in my body, it should have been obvious."_

"_**My dear host, please do not delude yourself into thinking you are not human just because you differ from the standard version,"**_ Chaos said making Vincent's eyes opening surprise. _**"You do need to sleep more often than I ever do and you eat and when you eat, you need to ex…"**_

"_I get the idea,"_ Vincent said hastily.

"…_**pell the remains of the food from your body,"**_ Chaos continued.

"I know your oil-rig needs money and I know you can't send money everyday but do you have any idea as to how much two children eat," Tifa ranted. "The bills need to be paid, the suppliers expect cash when they deliver and we all need to wear clothes. You have no right to tell me what I can't do and can do, unless you want to stay here and take care of all of it."

"_So you mean, I'm not sick,"_ Vincent asked.

"_**I mean, I don't know,"**_ Chaos replied. _**"You are sick, you admitted to it, I mean, I did not notice. The failings of the human body are beyond my understanding. You have not been awake long enough since we have been fused for me to understand how everything works."**_

"And you," Tifa turned her attention to Cloud. "You aren't even here half the time and I can't even reach you because you cellphone is off and …"

"_**And I have far too many things to do rather than monitor your thoughts every moment you are awake,"**_ Chaos continued.

"_That is not very helpful,"_ Vincent said finally.

"_**Quite frankly, I wouldn't know the difference from when you suffering from sleep depravation to been poisoned by something,"**_ Chaos offered helpfully. _**"Now, if you had a gaping hole in your chest that was bleeding …"**_

"Vincent."

Vincent opened his eyes; he had not even noticed he had closed them during the internal conversation. "Cloud," he said straightening.

"I'm going to the church to collect the materia," Cloud said looking slightly nervous. "I need to equip everyone before we go, and – uh – you want to come."

Vincent looked around the room and weighed his options. He did not think he could avoid Cloud during their time together on an airship and he appreciated Cloud for making the effort. "Sure," he replied.

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At first he had thought the reason they were naked was sexual. After all, why would anyone be naked if not to fuck but then he realised that both of them of were too stupid for it. Their understanding of sex was nothing like what he had expected, which a waste was considering what they looked like.

There had been three of them; he had names them Almost_Sephiroth, Not_Sephiroth and Dumb_one, Almost, Not and Dumb_one for short. Then Almost had tried to become the real one and had died. It surprised the scientists in the lab as to why they couldn't make another Almost. He could have told them it was the soul – they could make the body but as long as the soul was in the lifestream there was no way the body would come alive. Which was why Hojo always tried to make Soldiers out of living people – it was easier to modify a body with a soul rather than stuff one into it.

He extended his wing and dropped down from the roof, after making sure the lab was empty. The Scientists always slept at night and they did not seem to think installing a camera was worth it when they had all the readings they needed. As he reached the floor, his wing gave a couple of powerful beats to slow down his decent.

Not_Sephiroth stirred at the sound and looked up from the tangle of limbs. He could see that the two had gone through a tough day; the scientists must have run some tests on them. They were groggy, naked and looked confused, probably still coming out of their drug induced haze. He watched as a couple of feathers came lose and tumbled into their containment cell in the centre of the room. The energy field fizzled but the feathers were too small to be affected and they tumbled into the cage, shimmering oddly.

Though he knew the feathers looked black, they were infact the deepest red, like his hair, which had finally returned to the original colour. Dumb_one picked up one of the feathers and stuffed it into his mouth and chewed on it energetically. Not was more alert, getting to his feet, and walking to the perimeter of the cage. Not stopped just short of the energy field and looked at him. He had always wondered if his Goddess looked like this, perhaps a little more endowed at the chest, longer hair, well the skin was fair enough since lab specimens never saw the sun if they could help it but maybe the eye color ….

"Are you going to get us out," Not spoke carefully and he made a note. His goddess was going to have a soft feminine voice, nothing like this.

He did not bother replying. There was no way he could carry either of them through the narrow exhaust passage he had entered, nor could he open the cage door without altering the scientists of his presence. While he did not fear the white coats he had a healthy respect for them; especially since the lab had countermeasures to take down a Solider if necessary. He would wait for the right time and let of these two; not before. He did not want to waste his time on a pointless issue. His curiosity sated, knowing they were alive, he decided that it was time for him to leave.

He flapped his wing, getting the lift he needed to leave the place. As he did, he looked down at the two, Not who was busy collecting feathers inside their cage and Dumb_one who was discovering feathers did not make good meals. He would be back and he would use these two as pawns if it meant taking down this damned lab and reaching his goal.

A/N – I'm home for the holidays, yay but so busy running around. The next update will probably be next year. So Merry Chirstmas and Happy New Year everyone.


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